Inception on a Rainy Night
by KT8812
Summary: Written for the 'Teach me the nasty' contest. Bella Swan knows the deadly secret of Professor Cullen, yet she can't help being attracted to him.
1. Chapter 1

**Penname**: katty8812

**Title**: Inception on a Rainy Night

**Summary**: Bella Swan knows the deadly secret of Professor Cullen, yet she can't help being attracted to him.

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Disclaimer:** Twilight and its characters belong to Stephanie Meyer though I do enjoy playing with them.

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Author's note**: This is my first attempt at writing a lemon. Please be kind!

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Bella walked hurriedly on the wet streets. The dark night and the empty roads did nothing to calm her down.

_Dratted ball game!_ She thought viciously. The roads that would have been teeming with students and couples from the varsity were conspicuously empty as all of them had gathered in groups in pubs or bars to cheer the Seattle sea hawks to victory.

She slipped slightly on the wet pavement, thanks to the worn out soles of her ancient sneakers. Bella immediately slowed down, not wanting the night to end in a visit to the hospital.

She thought of the Nissan she would buy with the money she was saving up. Her pocket was full of a wad of notes, her weekly pay, which was really good for someone who worked behind the bar. It was a popular bar and she had soon discovered that she was less likely to drop something from her hands than she was to trip up on her traitorous two left feet. While she did not enjoy drunken men with beer bellies hitting on her, she knew that desperate times called for desperate measures.

She had always been an independent girl and while both Charlie and René had offered to aid her during college, she had steadfastly refused all their help. Her on-campus job at the library and some free lance writing work had helped her through the first semester, however with the sinking economy and rising prices, she found herself on very thin ice while trying to pay the tuition and remaining at the top of her studies.

Then in the midst of it all, her beloved truck had finally passed away. She was glad that 'Beth' as she had named it, had quietly passed away in her sleep and simply refused to start the next morning. It was just as well, Beth had been on life support for a very long time and the doctors had told Bella that no amount of surgery could bring back the dead. It was time to say goodbye and put Beth to rest at the local junkyard.

Bella sighed as she continued to walk; it was still a long way to her dingy apartment. As always, her thoughts turned to a certain professor of hers. While she was a lit major and intended to make a mark in the literary world, she had chosen American history as her minor.

Little did she know when she had filled out her application forms that her choice would show her depths of depravity and heights of desire. In a class of over a hundred and fifty students, with her body humming with excitement, her pen posed over the writing pad, she had first seen Professor Cullen.

She had dropped her pen and ignored the writing pad.

Lightning flashed in the sky and a light drizzle started.

"Damn!" she cursed as she quickened her pace to dangerous levels that threatened bodily harm. Having lived in Washington long enough, she knew it wouldn't take long before the drizzle turned into a downpour.

She remembered the walks she took with Jacob, her childhood friend on the beaches and the tribal legends he told her. She had been fascinated with the story of the 'cold ones'. Being a nerd, and having almost no social life, she had used her free time following the myth of the cold ones.

She became deeply absorbed into the stories of the blood-drinking creatures as she found more and more references to the creatures throughout history, in almost all parts of the world. She followed the myths of the _Strigoi_ as Romanians called them and those of _Vrykolakas _as the ancient Greek named them. She followed the _Upyr_ legends from Russia and understood the characteristics of _BrahmarākŞhasa _in India.

It was mentioned that legends of these creatures first started in India, China and Egypt from where, by way of the silk route, their stories made their way to the west. The creatures were always mentioned as undead, drinking blood, hard and cold. They were believed to lack the water element and hence were hard and always thirsty.

While Bella never cared for movies like _Dracula_, she lapped up all the information she could find on these mythical creatures with morbid fascination. As work and study pressures increased in her senior year, her obsession with the myths and legends came to a halt and she never gave them another thought.

Not until two weeks ago.

_She sat quietly, waiting for the class to begin. She carried no pen or paper with her. It was pointless, she had tried her very best to focus on the lecture, but she always found herself drowning in his golden eyes, in that smooth enigmatic voice and the chiseled features of his beautiful face._

_Professor Cullen was driving her to distraction and she had no idea what to do. Never before had she felt so strong an attraction._

_Get a hold of yourself Bella!_ S_he chastised herself_. _Crushing on a teacher? How pathetic can you get?_

_With all said and done, she simply couldn't ignore the fact that she had never before felt like this for anyone. She did not just want him; she needed him. In all his classes, she would memorize his every action, his each gesture, even the smallest nuance and store it away for later. _

_Later came every night, in her bed, on the couch, in the shower. When there was no fear of exposure, in the privacy of her apartment, when the need for him reached a fever pitch and the urgency for his touch could not be quelled, she would reach down and touch herself. _

_She would imagine that the fingers stroking her so intimately were his. The hand that roved the expanse of her naked skin was his and soon she would be caught up in her fantasy. _

_The thought of his lips ghosting over her lips, her neck, her breasts would make her frantic. The idea of his body seeking her made her pant and gasp. The notion of his teasing fingers and tongue would make the fire glow in her stomach even as the coil of pleasure wound tighter, reaching the point where it was almost painful._

_Finally, the image of him on top of her, filling her, stretching her, possessing her would make her scream and see the stars._

_Bella blushed and shifted in her seat, rubbing her thighs together to try and reduce the ache between them as Professor Cullen entered the class. She allowed his deep melodious voice to wash over her as she watched his every move when suddenly, his roaming gaze locked with hers for a moment. She felt a gush of warmth between her legs and impossibly, his golden eyes seem to darken as they stared into hers. _

_For the rest of the lecture, she couldn't even focus on him as tingles ran amok in her body at the memory of his dark gaze. She decided to stay back after class to talk to him, any and every excuse would do. However, as the bell rang and the class emptied, she had lost her nerve. She rushed out, trying to put as much distance as she could between herself and the alluring professor when she tripped over her shoelaces that had come undone._

_Her face was about to become intimately acquainted with the hard floor when a hand grasped her upper arm. She tethered for a moment at a _Matrix_ worthy angle and yet her mind could process nothing but the hand that had grasped her. It was cold as ice and hard as marble._

_Images flitted across her eyes as myths and stories echoed in her ears about the cold ones. Before she could turn and face her savior, her mind had already reached a conclusion._

_Vampire._

_On righting herself and turning, she found herself looking into the golden eyes she had dreamed about for the past several weeks._

"_Miss Swan, one should watch where one is going, lest there be an accident. You could have been hurt," he said in a soft voice._

_Her mind seemed to snap as she tried to reconcile the creature from the legends to the stunning man standing in front of her. Instead of murmuring some generic words of gratitude, in the shock of the moment, she had blurted out the first thing that came to her mind._

"_I know what you are."_

_She did not know what response she was expecting, but his expressionless face was not it._

"_Indeed," he responded as he smoothly walked away._

There was no fighting the torrential downpour now. Bella ran to seek refuge at the entrance of a closed building. She muttered curses under her breath as she waited for the deluge to ease. Wet as she was, soon she started shivering as the rain refused to let up. She was considering resuming her journey despite the rain when a black Mercedes drove up alongside the pavement.

_Please God_, she prayed, _don't let it be a maniac or a junkie._

Her breath caught as she saw who was in the driver's seat as the glass lowered. Professor Cullen's gaze bored into her wide eyes as he spoke.

"It seems you are in need of help, Miss Swan."

In all the noise of the pouring rain, she could still very clearly hear his soft voice. She stood there, paralyzed with conflicting emotions. Fear, desire and curiosity warred within her as she continued to stare at him.

Noting her indecision, he got out of the car and moved to the other side to hold the passenger door open for her. Something in his eyes made the decision for her and as she slid into the car, she felt as though she had leaped off a cliff with no idea of what lay beneath.

The heater in the car was at full blast as she studied the profile of the man beside her. How many times had she fantasized about him? Even after discovering his secret, she could not let go of her longing for him. For the past two weeks, she had been waiting. What for, she had no idea. Perhaps, she was waiting for sudden disappearances or murders. Or maybe she was waiting to be pulled into a dark alcove to be devoured.

It felt as though her mind had been split into two, the rational part screaming at her to run while the irrational, Cullen addled part asking her to wait and watch. It repeatedly assured her that he would come to her.

It was obvious which part won.

Bella tore her eyes away from his face as her heartbeat started to rise and she started feeling the first stirrings of her desire. She looked out of the window to find that they were traveling on a road hitherto unknown to her.

_Run! _Her mind screamed at her, but her body refused to obey.

The agonized silence was broken as the car came to a halt on the gravel outside a large mansion. Before she could make any observations, he was at her door in a flash to open the door for her.

_A chivalrous vampire_ she mused as she entered the foyer. He moved silently through a pair of doors as she looked at the lair of the demon. The house looked more like a museum than anything else. It was nothing like the dark, damp cave she had imagined with cobwebs hanging off the walls.

Suddenly, she was cocooned in warmth and found that he had draped a shawl around her shoulders as he handed her a cup of steaming hot chocolate. She took the cup from him, her frozen fingers warming from its heat as he directed her to sit on a chaise.

She blew on the cup and took a hesitant sip and smiled as the thick, sweet liquid made its way down her throat, warming her from within. She found him standing in front of her, still as a statue, gazing at her with an intensity that made the blush rise up in her cheeks. As she took another sip, she wondered how completely bizarre the entire situation was.

As the silence grew, her mental filter seemed to have clogged up completely as she said the first thing that came to her mind.

"You keep chocolate in your house?"

A ghost of a smile flitted across his face as he continued to observe her single-mindedly.

"It is just to keep up appearances."

She nodded. "I see, obviously it's not of much use to you."

Again he gave her a curious look. He seemed to be struggling with himself. He took a deep breath, as he seemed to reach a decision.

"Tell me how you found out about my kind."

It was not a request but a command.

She never considered disobeying. She simply started recounting how she had been sucked into the world of mythical creatures. He listened to her silently, but every now and then, a look of complete disbelief would show on his face, after which he would immediately school his features into neutrality.

She finished her tale by recounting the incident where he had kept her from falling down and how she had recognized his touch.

He muttered something, too low for her to hear though is sounded suspiciously like 'weakness'.

Again the silence stretched between them, the flickering flames of the fire casting shadows to dance on their faces. She did not know how long it had been, only that her once sodden clothes were dry and that she had to do something, _anything _to break the silence. But when in desperate need of them, words failed her. Finally, she willed her body to move and stood up on shaky legs.

She felt like she was under water, where every movement was slow, fuzzy and buoyant as she approached him. As she looked in his eyes, she could find nothing. She had not known what she had been looking for in his ocher eyes, but she had expected to find _something_. Numbly, she moved towards the front door and was about to pull it open when she felt his cold hand grip her wrist from behind her.

She froze, her hand on the handle of the door as cool breath ghosted on the back of her neck, stirring the strands of her hair. "Did you know," he whispered against the shell of her ear, "that I could smell your arousal in the class, day after day?"

Bella whipped around and gasped as she took in his darkened eyes. The amount of want in those bottomless black eyes nearly brought her to her knees. He placed his hands on either side of her waist, trapping her between him and the closed door. He leaned into her, breathing in her scent deeply as her heart started racing and the pulse started pounding in her ears.

"Did you know, I can _feel _your desire for me?" he whispered again as she drew in a shaky breath. "I can hear your heart flutter in your chest, I can hear the blood rushing through your veins, and I can smell the pheromones releasing in your blood at my proximity."

At this point, Bella was too far-gone to react in any way. He completely overwhelmed her. Her body was thrumming at his closeness, his dark gaze making a fire erupt in her belly. Her senses swam with his scent, cinnamon, cloves and the overpowering sweetness of frankincense and myrrh.

"Isabella Marie Swan," he whispered, his cool lips almost upon her feverish ones, "what do you want?"

"You," came her slightly choked response and then, suddenly the world faded away as everything around her blurred and then she was lying on her back on a huge four-poster bed, covered in blood red silken sheets.

He hovered on top of her, drinking her in with his eyes, making wetness pool between her legs. At her reaction, his eyes grew impossibly darker as a low rumbling sound came from his chest. Her shoes and socks were off in a flash and he buried his face in her neck as he asked her one last time.

"Are you sure?" he questioned, his voice low and husky. "There is no going back."

She moaned in response, incoherent with yearning as she arched her back, trying to bring her body in contact with his. He growled and took her wrists in his iron grip and placed them on the headboard.

"Keep your hands here. Do not move them. I don't want them in my way."

She nodded, looking on as he slowly unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it off. Bella tightened her grip on the headboard as her hands itched to roam over the pale expanse of his chest. He unbuttoned the first two buttons of her shirt and again buried his face in her neck, kissing the pulse point behind her ear.

Instead of being scared, Bella became all the more aroused as she let out a sigh. Then, without warning, his lips descended on her. The kiss was bruising, devastating as he pried her lips apart with his and plundered her mouth. There was no tenderness in the act, it was a demanding kiss filled with lust and longing. She offered him all that she had and he took what he wanted unabashedly.

Bella's mind, delirious with pleasure caught his words as he continued to kiss his way down her neck, to her collarbone.

"So soft… so sweet… so warm…"

The feel of his cold lips moving over her flushed skin made jolts flow through her nerve endings. He took hold of the edge of her shirt and with a roar, ripped it off her body, the buttons making plinking sounds as they hit the walls and floor.

His hands moved on the flat planes of her stomach as his mouth trailed over her shoulders. "Do you have any idea how you have tortured me?" he asked, his voice losing the cultivated tone of a professor as it became tinged with a southern twang. "Breathin' in your scent everyday, watching you sitting in front of me but too far to reach? Your body callin' to me as much as your blood?"

He ripped off her bra, much as he had done with her shirt and pinched her nipples hard. She screamed as she felt her center pulsing with need, the pain in her nipples getting translated to pleasure.

"Oh yes, darlin'," he smiled devilishly, "you are going to pay for what you put me through."

He dipped his fingers in the waistband of her jeans as his mouth trailed down between her breasts, licking and sucking her feverish skin. He tortured her nipples till they were hard peaks, bruised red and inflamed with his biting and suckling.

It was too much, too much. Bella was panting, her breath coming in uneven gasps as her center ached for friction. She could no longer lie still as his tongue dipped into her belly button. Her hips bucked and they were immediately pinned to the bed by his firm grip.

"Impatient, darlin'?" he asked as he took in her naked torso, flushed pink, her chest heaving with her labored breath. She looked at him with hooded eyes as her unbuttoned the fly of her jeans and lowered the zipper. With a jerk, he pulled off her jeans, taking her plain cotton panties along with it.

The smell of her arousal hit him hard as he let out a growl and covered her lips with is own for another kiss. His tongue tasted the sweet crevices of her mouth as one hand tangled itself in her hair while the other stroked her hipbone. Bella started squirming beneath him, rubbing her body along his.

"Patience, love. I'm going to take my time loving your sweet body." He moved lower till his face was level with the apex of her thighs. Gently, he nuzzled the curls at the top and both of them moaned simultaneously. She parted her legs willingly for him as he took in the sight of her glistening lips.

He blew cool air on her and her hips bucked again. "You want me real bad, don't you sugar? Look how wet you are for me!" Bella moaned again in agreement with him. He dipped one finger between her lips and gathered the moisture. He looked at the glistening tip of his finger and sucked it into his mouth as she watched with rapt attention.

A litany of profanities fell from his lips as he tasted her for the first time.

Without waiting, he lowered his head between her delicate thighs. His fingers drew lazy circles on the hipbones as he inhaled the musk of her womanhood. "Ambrosia," he said as he licked his lips and started tasting her.

His cold tongue lapped at her heated center as she whimpered with the overload of pleasure. He tongued her everywhere but the place where she was aching for contact. As he dipped his tongue into her channel, she screamed and her hands flew to grip his honey locks and pull him closer.

Instantly, his movements ceased and he froze. He rose up to look at her, she was crying and whimpering at the loss of contact. He grabbed her chin between his forefinger and thumb, forcing her to look at him.

"What did I tell you about keeping your hands out of my way?" he growled. Again, he repositioned her arms above her head. "You do not want to play with me, Bella," he whispered silkily, "because there are so many ways for me to torture you otherwise. So many ways for me to play with your body without bringing you fulfillment. You wouldn't want that now, would you?"

At her silence, his anger seemed to flare. "Answer me!"

"No," she sobbed out.

Why was he doing this? Did he not know how long she had waited for him, how badly she needed him?

Satisfied with her answer, he returned back to his task, lazily lapping at her, without ever touching her clit. She was waiting, waiting for him to touch that bundle of nerves when suddenly he pushed two fingers into her channel. Bella cried out, the sensation of his cold fingers in her melting heat unlike anything she had ever felt.

The professor also seemed to be panting, murmuring in a worshipful tone. "So wet… so hot… so tight…"

Slowly he pumped his fingers as his tongue started flicking her clit in a perfect rhythm. And then he did something that threatened to throw Bella off the precarious ledge on which she was balanced.

He nibbled, yes, _nibbled _on her clit. Just as her orgasm was about to take over, he withdrew his fingers and mouth from her. Bella let out a frustrated cry at the emptiness and his mouth descended on her inner thigh. Biting and sucking furiously, he marked her as his own.

Slowly, he crawled up and took possession of her mouth again, making her taste herself on his lips. She moaned into his mouth at the eroticism of the act. In a second, his pants were gone as he settled himself between her thighs and placed his length at her opening.

Swiftly, with a thrust he had sheathed himself completely into her, both of them moaning and groaning as their bodies became one. While she was no virgin, Bella had never been filled the way he filled her. He was overwhelmed with the heat of her body and his breath became ragged with the effort it took not to pound into her like an animal and kill her.

Slowly, he began to thrust into her, growling at the feeling of being enveloped in her wet heat. Her hips began to match his movements, thrust for thrust. She wrapped her legs around his waist, drawing him deeper within her. Soon, both of them were tethering at the edge of their orgasms, his thrusts becoming shorter and more erratic as her incoherent cries filled the room. Again, he stilled, looking at the visage of the girl beneath him. He wondered what it was that he had done in his depraved existence to deserve such a gift.

Bella tried to move, but he had her pinned beneath him.

"Please, please!" she begged.

Bringing forth all the control he had developed over the centuries, he remained still, as he asked, "What do you want? Say it!"

"Move! Please, move within me," she begged, all illusions of propriety lost in the haze of pleasure.

"Say my name," he demanded.

"Please, pro…professor!" she continued to whimper.

"My name, Miss. Swan, I want to hear my name on your lips."

"I'm begging you, please, professor Cullen!"

"Say . my . name!" he roared as he thrust into her again, while he pinched her clit cruelly.

"Jasper!" she screamed, as a tidal wave of lust washed over her, as finally he lost control of his gift.

Her orgasm seized her body, her lips opening in a silent scream as wave after wave of rapture coursed through her, clenching her muscles around him as he continued to pump, finally emptying himself in her with an animalistic roar.

Even as her body continued to throb as he collapsed on top of her, she continued to chant his name.

"Jasper, Jasper, Jasper…" because he had asked her to say it, and she could never deny him anything. As the aftershocks of their coupling continued to pulse through them, she continued to whisper his name like a prayer.

Slowly, he raised himself on his elbows and looked at her. Her heart seemed to overflow with something intense which she did not know how to name. His dark eyes had now returned to the normal amber color and the tenderness in his gaze as her brushed wet curls off her forehead made her heart thump in joy.

Gently, he pried her hands off the headboard, her fingers stiff from their tight grip. Softly, he kissed each finger and each knuckle before placing a kiss on each of her palms. She cupped his face in her tiny hands, finally giving into the desire to touch him. She pulled him down for a kiss, so gentle, so tender, so sweet, that she could have wept from the beauty of it.

As they looked into each other's eyes, she realized he was still buried in her, hard as rock. Her eyes widened with incredulity at this discovery. A roguish grin spread on his face as he leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"There are some things you have not discovered in your research darlin'," he drawled as goose bumps broke over her skin. "One of them is that we vampires are insatiable!"

She looked into his rapidly darkening eyes and again heat flared within her.

"This is just the beginning," he promised as he leaned down to capture her lips in a searing kiss again.


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N:**_** Thanks to all of you who voted for this story in the contest. Though it did not win, I am extremely happy with the response it garnered and I would like to thank all of you who read, reviewed and supported the story in general. I have decided to turn this o/s into a full-fledged story and I am pretty nervous about it since it is my first Bella/Jasper story. I hope that you will all enjoy the up coming journey as much as I do.**

**I would like to dedicate this chapter to **_**Jasper's Naughty Girls**_** for hosting the 'Teach me the nasty' contest. It helped me break out of my shell, so to speak. I'd specially like to thank **_**Cullen 818**_** for all her support and encouragement. She has been my window into the world of all things Jasper. If you like Jasper, you'll LOVE her stories.**

**Unlike the original o/s, the rest of the story will be narrated in the first person POV.**

**Enjoy! **

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Disclaimer: Twilight and its characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.**

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**JPOV**

I watched her back move rhythmically as she breathed. She lay on her stomach, gorgeous hair fanned out behind her with her pink lips parted slightly in her sleep. In repose, she looked like an angel. _My _angel._ My _Bella. _My mate._

Three and a half months after first having set my eyes on her, I claimed her as my mate last night. She was mine, now and forever. I had taken her twice during the night and marked her, covered her in my scent so that anyone who came too close knew she belonged to me.

"The bunny rabbit took my ballet slippers," she complained in her sleep, her little button nose scrunching up in irritation. She was so adorable when she spoke in her sleep. I reveled in her contentment all night long, as she was lost in the realm of her dreams. I had never thought I would do something like this and I could hear Peter's reaction to my watching a sleeping girl all night long.

_You're pussy whipped, Major_ he'd growl with that damnable smirk on his smug face.

As my thoughts went to Peter, I wondered why he and Alice had never gotten along in the first place. Alice could see the future and Peter _just knew shit_, in his words. Both were nosy, incredibly annoying and obnoxiously smug about their powers. While everyone knew never to bet against Alice, I knew Peter even before I met her and till date I had never bet against him.

I was brought back from my thoughts as I felt the sleeping beauty next to me stir a little. Slowly, she rolled onto her back, exposing her beautiful breasts as the comforter slipped lower. Instantly, I was rock hard as her pink nipples pebbled from the cool air. She settled quietly, still slumbering ignorantly.

Ignorant of my want for her, the longing ache for her and the burning desire to claim her that consumed me. I glanced at the wall clock in the dark. It was six thirty in the morning on a Saturday, too early to wake her up. But one look at her naked form and I lost my resolve.

I hovered over her, keeping my weight off of her, and quietly buried my face in her neck. I drank in her scent of vanilla and sweet limes. The burn flared at the back of my throat, the venom pooling into my mouth but I continued to inhale her essence greedily.

_Mine, all mine_ the animal within me purred as her skin broke out in goose bumps from my cold touch. Gently, I kissed the pulse point on her neck, enjoying the softness and warmth of her skin, the rhythmic thump of her heartbeat.

Slowly, I took one pink rosebud in my mouth. She whimpered and her heartbeats picked up, but she was still sleeping.

_Hmm… I wonder how far I can go without her waking up._

I swirled my tongue around her nipple, fingers tweaking the other one as she started squirming underneath me and I could feel her lust rise but she was still asleep. I shifted to the other breast as my hand snaked down to tease her nether lips. Her lips parted as a breathy moan left them.

I circled her clit with my forefinger and her hips started moving, pressing into my touch unconsciously. I smiled as I felt how wet she was despite still being asleep. I inserted two fingers into her warm, wet core and started pumping them gently. Her head started thrashing this way and that as her hips started rocking into my hand. Her breathing accelerated as her heartbeats, her lust rising exponentially and still I could feel that she was not awake.

"Professor…"

I smirked. _It seems like Miss Swan is having naughty dreams about her professor._

I couldn't stand it anymore. I needed her, immediately. I thrust into her, burying myself to the hilt in her warmth, growling with pleasure. Her eyes snapped open as she gasped. Wide brown eyes met my ebony ones in shock. For a moment, I felt her fear, which was quickly replaced by lust as she realized where she was and with whom. Instead of pounding into her as I wanted to, I decided to play a bit. I made small circles with my hips, filling her, hitting her in places she had never experienced before.

Her hands tangled into my hair, pulling at it as her jaw fell slack with pleasure. I gave small thrusts, nowhere enough to satisfy her, making her want more. She tugged more forcefully at my hair, arching her back, trying to thrust her hips faster but I was strong enough to control her movements. Irritation was beginning to seep into her lust hazed mind when I felt a spark of mischievousness from her. Before I could decipher where that spark had come from, she pulled herself closer to me and traced the shell of my ear with her tongue. She sucked the lobe of my ear into that warm little mouth of hers and then breathed a single word, her warm breath tickling the fine hair as the nape of my neck before biting down on my ear lobe hard.

"Jasper…"

_Vixen!_ She knew what my name on her lips did to me.

I stopped playing games and started thrusting into her warmth, making sure I did not exert force enough to hurt her. Her gasps and moans spurred me on and it was not long before we both peaked, her walls clamping down on me, milking me for all my worth. The pleasure was too much, unbearable and I had to bite her.

_No!_ I couldn't bite her. My instincts were too hard to fight so I did the only thing I could think of. I cradled the back of her head in my hand and bit into my forearm. The sharp jolt of pain made another tidal wave of pleasure go through me as I orgasmed again and I threw all the lust I was feeling at Bella, bringing her with me, screaming my name.

I collapsed on her, still keeping my full weight from crashing into her, nuzzling her neck as we both came down from our high, our breathing labored. I looked at the fresh crescent shaped scar adorning my forearm. I was well aware of each such scar marring my battle-ravaged body, but this was the first such scar which I had given myself. It was the one scar I wasn't ashamed of. This was a scar I was proud of. It showed my control over my basest instincts and while I would turn my Bella one day, it would not happen in the heat of the moment.

I lifted myself enough to look into her flushed face. She gave me a smile and said, "That was one hell of a wake up call, professor!"

Her calling me professor did strange things to my body. I leaned down to kiss her, but she stopped me by placing her small palm on my mouth. Rage bubbled over in my mind, how dare she keep herself from me? She must have seen the change in my demeanor because she kissed my cheek.

"Morning breath," she explained.

I crashed my lips onto hers, kissing her with abandon, tasting her sweetness as my tongue swirled in her mouth. Didn't she know she was always sweet to me? When I finished, I looked at her. Her eyes were slightly glazed before she focused back to my face. "You're mine, my Isabella," I told her as I pecked her lips again.

I would have continued but her stomach rumbled, loudly enough for a human to hear, let alone my sensitive vampire ears. She flushed in embarrassment, and I realized that she had nothing but the hot chocolate I had offered her for dinner yesterday night. I needed to remember that humans needed to feed at a much higher frequency than us.

"Breakfast, sugar?" I asked her as I slipped out of her. She moaned in disappointment at the emptiness my withdrawal caused and I smiled. Yes, she was made for me.

"Umm… where's the bathroom?" she asked, cheeks tinged with pink. I couldn't help myself as I peppered her cheeks in kisses. What was a man supposed to do when his mate looked so darn delectable?

I directed her towards the bathroom and left to make her some breakfast, but not before I admired her naked form moving towards the bathroom. I was extremely glad that it was a Saturday and I had her with me for the entire weekend. I don't think I would be able to let go of her anytime soon. I heard the water in the bathroom as she took care of her needs and felt her emotions swirling around. Happiness, contentment, lust, doubt and uncertainty. I was glad that I couldn't find a trace of fear in her emotions, though I knew I would have to take care of the doubt and uncertainty quickly.

I made her breakfast, which I had learnt to make after several attempts since the day I had set my eyes on her. It smelled revolting, but at least it looked well cooked. There was nothing more I could do to ensure it was edible, since it would taste like dust even if I tried tasting it for her. I hoped she would cut me some slack since I hadn't cooked in over a century and a half, not that I ever remembered cooking from my human life.

From what she had told me the previous night, I knew that all her information about vampires came from tribal legends and what she could find from the internet as well as books. While most of it was true, there were several things that they did not mention. It had been extremely difficult for me to accept the fact that I had a human for a mate. It was a very rare occurrence and one fraught with complications. When faced with our mates, it was almost impossible for as to resist claiming them, yet I had had to hold myself back, knowing that Bella was human.

I remember being shocked when she had claimed she knew what I was. In a way, I was also relieved, not having to actually reveal to her my true nature. Now, I knew that I needed to fill in the missing gaps in her knowledge, especially about my unusual choice of diet. While most people were instinctually scared of us, Bella had gravitated towards me from the start. She had never shown any fear, which strengthened my belief that she was indeed meant for me.

I placed her eggs and bacon on the table and poured her some OJ when I heard her climbing down the stairs. I was more interested in the feelings of doubt, uncertainty and embarrassment she was emitting. My dead heart stuttered in my chest when I saw that she was dressed in nothing but my shirt from the previous night.

"Umm… good morning," she wished me, the blood rushing to her face. I just stood there, taking in the beauty that was my Isabella. Her embarrassment increased as she stuttered, "uh… sorry, my shirt was kinda ruined and I saw your shirt there and…"

I cut her off as I pressed my lips to her. Some of her embarrassment faded away as she lost herself in the kiss. I still couldn't believe how warm and soft she was.

" You have no idea what seeing you in my clothes does to me darlin'," I whispered against her lips. Much as I wanted to continue, her stomach grumbled again and I laughed. I pulled her over to the table where I had placed her breakfast. I could feel her shock and surprise as she looked at me with wide eyes.

"You made this?" she asked.

I nodded; suddenly worried that she might not like it. I decided to come clean with her.

"I've never cooked before, so uh, if you don't like it, we can go out and get you what ever you want…"

I couldn't believe I was stuttering in front of this slip of a girl.

_Yeah, you're whipped Major!_

She looked down at her plate with a look of intense concentration and cut up a small bit and brought it to her mouth. I was entranced with the site of her plump pink lips opening and closing around the fork she chewed demurely, her mouth closed and then her delicate neck convulsed as she swallowed it.

She must have read my expression because she gave me a reassuring smile and said, " It's delicious. Thank you".

I watched her silently as she ate. Somehow, never before had I found the human way of eating so engrossing. Her discomfiture increased as she continued to eat before she set her fork down.

"Won't you be having something for breakfast?" she asked awkwardly.

"Not unless you're offering yourself," I joked before cursing internally. Now she was going to run screaming from me.

Her eyes widened and her heart picked up as she gaped at me, horrified.

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A/N: ****Yes, it's short and I know I left it at a really bad point, but I hope the little lemon in the beginning will appease you.**

**Leave me your thought and ideas; I am open to suggestions and pointers. I am a bit unsure about this story so your honest opinions are desperately needed.**

**If you have the time, you can check out my other stories. I am currently writing **_**"Northern lights!"**_** which is an Edward/OFC story (apologies to all you Bella fans) which takes off fifteen years after "New Moon" assuming that Bella died from her little cliff jumping session. Go read it if you have an open mind about your beloved characters and the desire to read something different.**

**Also, you can check out **_**"Never again"**_** which is a Jasper/Alice o/s from JPOV when he's waiting for Alice, Edward and Bella to return from Italy at the end of "New Moon."**

**I hoped you enjoyed this chapter. Please let me know what you think by reviews or PM.**

**Hugs!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/n: ****Thanks to all of you, who've continued to read, review and support the story. Here's the next installment. Enjoy!**

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Disclaimer:

** Stephanie Meyer owns twilight and its characters, not me.**

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Inception on a Rainy night

**Chapter 3:**

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BPOV:

I stared at him, wondering if he was serious or joking, though the chances of a vampire joking about drinking blood are very few. I wanted to panic, scream, run, anything but sit there like a statue. Somehow, the fear never came. I had stepped into his car last night, well aware of what he was and even with the threat to my life, I couldn't bring myself to regret that decision.

Last night had been life altering for me and it wasn't just about the sex. He made me feel complete in a way I had never known before. It was after being with him that I realized that I had been missing something essential from my life, like a part of my soul had been lost and that lost little fragment was reclaimed by his presence.

He was watching me silently and if it didn't seem so ridiculous, I would have thought he looked a bit afraid. I silently moved my hair away from my neck, exposing it, inviting him to give into his nature. In that moment, my thoughts did not stray to Charlie or Renee and what my death would do to them. I could only think of the man in front of me and the peace and contentment he brought me just moments before he devoured me.

He continued to gaze at me for what seemed like an eternity before he walked over to me grasped my waist and lowered his mouth to my neck. I waited for the pain, or pleasure as some stories described it, but nothing came. He nuzzled my neck, like he had done before, a low rumbling in his chest as he began kissing my neck. I couldn't control my hands as they involuntarily went to hold onto him. Yes, I would hold onto him for as long as I could.

He continued kissing my neck as he whispered, "My brave little darlin', my sweet Bella, my life, my mate…"

I felt as if I my being was being filled with love and affection making me almost giddy, I felt like I was drunk on love as he moved to press tiny kisses to my face. As I looked into his eyes, I found bottomless love instead of hunger and madness and I felt myself floating… wait, what? Mate? As in mating? Like animals?

"What?" I managed to get the single word out with difficulty.

"What, what?" he countered.

"You just called me… you called me something," I said, unsure of what I had heard.

He started kissing me again, "Darlin'? Sweet? Brave?" he asked as he continued to kiss me in a way that should be illegal and banned for public health concerns.

"Mate, you called me your mate," I managed to get out between his drugging kisses.

He sighed as he looked away and then pointed at my unfinished breakfast.

"Don't you want to finish that?"

"Do you think I'll let you change the subject so easily?" I countered. Being cheeky with a vampire was not something one should do, but I wasn't afraid of him or the consequences, so I figured what the hell?

He gave me a wry smile. "You don't miss anything, do you darlin'? Come, we'll talk in the living room."

I followed him out of the kitchen and into the hall where I proceeded to sit on his lavish couch. Instead of sitting down beside me, he pulled me up and situated himself underneath me, effectively placing me on his lap. I did not remember sitting in Charlie's or even Renee's lap, but with Jasper, it just felt natural. He started playing with my hair and I thought of how quickly I went from seeing him as professor Cullen to being just Jasper.

_My Jasper,_ a voice piped up within me and I firmly squashed it down.

I twisted in his lap slightly to be able to look at him and raised an eyebrow, wanting him to start spilling the beans.

"Bella, you know quite a bit about vampires and yet there's still a lot that you don't know, especially about me," he said quietly.

I had been under the impression that I knew everything about my favorite mythical creatures. Obviously, that was not the case.

He looked at me, his expression curious as well as disapproving. "Why did you offer yourself to me like that?"

That was easy wasn't it? Because I feel complete around you, because I don't care if you kill me, I just want to be with for as long as possible and because I have gone completely insane.

"Well, you're a… you know. And you're strong and I wouldn't have been able to escape even if I wanted to,"_ not that I wanted to escape in the first place_, I added mentally.

Now he just looked skeptical. "Bella, I know you weren't afraid of me, it's just that people instinctually shy away from us, their unconscious telling them we are predators making them stay away from us". He again captured my lips in a kiss, "But you," he looked at me in awe, "you knew what I was and still came with me. I could feel your trust and I wonder how that is possible?"

Instead of answering his question, my mind registered something else.

_I know you weren't afraid of me…__I can__**feel**__your desire for me…_

I remembered the feelings of lust that crashed into me while we were intimate last night and his words told there was something big missing from the picture.

"What did you mean when you said you could _feel _my desire for you, last night?"

He smiled. "You really are the most perceptive creature I've met, though your survival instincts seem to be completely skewed," he replied.

Again I cocked my eyebrows at him, reminding him that I would not be sidetracked so easily. He groaned again.

"You won't let this go, will you?" he asked. I just shook my head. "Bella, I am an empath. I can feel what you feel. I can feel the emotions of everyone around me to a certain distance," he told me.

I think that was the point when my brain completely shut down. How could something like this be possible, I wondered.

"For example, you are feeling completely shocked and confused, though I do feel a bit of curiosity in there as well".

"Huh?" was my only intelligent response.

"Also," he continued, "I can control others emotions. I can make them feel whatever I want them to," he said with a smug smile, which slowly morphed into an evil smirk. Suddenly, I was filled with longing, desire and lust so strong that my entire body heated up, wetness pooled between my legs. Oh God! I needed release!

I turned and devoured his mouth, tasting his sweet spiciness with my tongue as I straddled him, rocking against him, needing the friction against my aching core. Why were we wrapped in so many clothes? I wondered as I tried to wrestle him out of his T-shirt when suddenly the feeling vanished completely.

I collapsed onto his lap, completely bewildered, breathing loudly as he smirked cruelly. I realized what had happened as my mortification reached epic proportions.

"Oh my God! _You _did that?" I asked, wondering if I had lost my sanity.

Does this mean that everything that happened last night was a lie? That I had been manipulated into having sex with him? That my desire for him was not real? What was one to do when one started doubting their own emotions? When one did not know if what they felt was real or not?

Tears pooled in my eyes as I pushed myself off of him. I wanted nothing but to turn invisible and disappear into thin air.

_It was all a lie_, I told myself.

How could I ever move on from this? How could I ever have another relationship again? I wished he had accepted my offer and killed me. What was I to do?

The next instant, I was pulled back into his steel chest, his arms forming iron girders around me. I couldn't help it; I lost it completely. I started sobbing uncontrollably.

"Shh… darlin' please!" he begged. "I never manipulated your feelings last night. It was real, what we feel for each other is true, my sweet. I would never force you into something like that!"

I could feel the truth in his statement. I realized that he was letting me feel the truth in his words and it was a strange feeling. I looked up at him through blurry eyes and felt his concern, remorse and love? Gently he wiped the tears from my cheeks and pressed a kiss to my reddened nose.

His arms tightened around me as he pressed another kiss to my temple. "I'm so sorry, sweetheart. I shouldn't have shown my gift to you like that. It was insensitive of me. I'm so sorry. Forgive me, darlin'?" he asked as he looked at me with clouded eyes. In response, I leaned up as captured his lips in a chaste kiss. I knew I could never stay mad at him; I would forgive him anything.

He buried his face into my hair and we sat quietly for a few minutes, letting our emotions settle. I couldn't even begin to imagine how difficult it must be for him if he felt the emotions of the hundreds of people surrounding him. I stiffened slightly when I realized what he was doing.

"Are you sniffing me?"

"Mmmm… " he moaned, face still buried in my hair. "You smell delicious, sweet like vanilla and tangy like sweet limes," he told me.

"Are you hungry? Do you need to eat me?"

He froze at my words and then whipped me around to face him, his eyes darkening as I looked on.

"Isabella," he ground out, "I will never drink from you. I could never hurt you, my sweet. But that doesn't mean I can't enjoy your lush fragrance. Now, I never want you to think that I will hurt you, worse still drink from you."

"But don't you need to drink blood to stay alive? You can have a bit of mine if you want, I don't mind. Just please don't let it spill, the smell of blood makes me dizzy," I told him. I knew if I wanted to have some kind of a relationship with him, he would need to feed and since I was available, why look elsewhere? I had read a lot of novels on vampires and they all said that vampires drank blood from the person they were in a relationship with.

Jasper was now staring at me like I was a lunatic. "Bella, do you have any idea what happens when a vampire feeds?" he asked me with a grave face.

"Umm… they latch onto your throat with their fangs and drink your blood and then you wake up and don't remember anything?" I asked it like a question.

"You've been watching far too many shows on the television, darlin'," he informed me. "When a vampire feeds, a feeding frenzy begins, Bella. Once a vampire has captured a prey, it will not let go before it drinks the person dry. It is almost impossible for a person to survive if a vampire drinks from them."

I tried to process his words. Did this mean that he _killed _people every time he went out to lunch or dinner? I thought vampires were supposed to drink from different people and then hypnotize them so they didn't remember anything. I started feeling sick to my stomach when I thought that the man that I loved could not survive unless he killed others like me.

And still, I couldn't hate him. How could I hate him for his true nature? The idea of vampires using humans as we used cattle was unfathomable. How could I be with him knowing how many lives were being lost to keep him alive?

"Bella, I am not like the others of my kind," he gently told me.

Others? There were _others_ like him?

He must have discovered my thoughts from my emotions because he gave a little laugh. "Surely you did not think I am one of a kind, Bella," he teased.

"How many others are there?" I wondered.

"Too many," he muttered, "our numbers go into hundreds, probably even thousands."

"How can that be possible?" I gasped. "How come no one knows, everybody thinks vampires are mythical creatures!"

"If we are mythical creatures, where do all the legends and stories come from, sugar?" he challenged.

I had to admit, he had a valid point. "So you mean to say that vampires exist amongst us in large numbers without our knowledge?"

He nodded. "Some of the oldest members of our kind are thousands of years old."

My heart sank as I considered how many hundreds of thousands of human lives must have been prematurely snuffed out to support these creatures. Jasper must have felt my mood shift because he began running his fingers through my hair, and suddenly I felt boneless and relaxed.

"Are you doing that?" I asked.

"Sorry darlin', I know I should have asked you first, but I didn't want you worryin'".

I snuggled into his solid chest, marveling at how perfectly my curves fitted the planes of his body. I decided I couldn't be a coward anymore, and braced myself for the coming conversation.

"What is it, Bella?"

_Damn, all-sensing vampire!_ Obviously he had felt my resolve before I asked my question. I felt his chest shaking with silent laughter as he felt my irritation. Though not useful, I glared at him, just make a point.

"How do you feed Jasper? And how frequently do you need to feed?" I asked him bluntly. I knew he killed humans to survive, but I needed to hear him say it. I desperately wished that his answer could be any different, though it was impossible.

He cupped my face in his hand, and looking into his eyes I could see the sincerity in them without needing his gift. "I don't hunt humans for food Bella. There is no need for you to worry about me hurting you or any other human for that matter."

Dumbfounded, I asked him how it was possible. I knew he needed blood to survive and mentioned as much.

"Yes, we need blood to survive, but we don't necessarily need to kill humans for it."

I pondered this and suddenly a light bulb flashed into my mind.

"Blood banks!" I screamed, relieved to know that at least it was donated blood.

"No darlin'. It's impossible for us to get as much blood as we need from the blood banks. If vampires started consuming blood from blood banks, there would be none left for the humans and the purpose of blood banks would be lost."

"You can empty a blood bank?"

He nodded.

"How much blood do you need?" I asked, hoping that there was something, anything that could be worked out in order to avoid the loss of life.

"I need as much as hundred to hundred fifty liters of blood every two weeks, more if it has been a particularly trying week, or if I have to be around huge crowds," he admitted with his eyes closed and head bowed.

I felt my heart dropping to my feet. No blood bank could keep up with a consumption rate like that. Still, Jasper had said killing humans was not necessary.

"If you don't kill humans, how do you get the blood you need?" After our conversation so far I was beginning to think that it was impossible for him to survive without killing humans.

"I hunt animals, sugar. That's how I have the control to have a normal life, teach in your class, have you in my arms here," he replied, nuzzling my neck.

"Like Stephan!" I gasped. I was so happy that he didn't kill humans that I pressed kisses all over his face. I looked up at him, a huge grin plastered on my face, but he looked like a thundercloud, his eyes dark and menacing.

"Who's Stephan?" he growled.

He was jealous! And he looked so good while jealous. I wanted to rile him up just a bit.

"You're not jealous, are you?" I questioned innocently.

His answering snarl had me rethinking my decision quickly. Like he had done just moments ago, I cupped his face in my hands, my thumbs caressing his cheekbones.

"Shh… relax. For a vampire, you sure know very little about the popular vampire stories out there. Stephan is a character from a book series called the 'Vampire Diaries'. Like you, it was mentioned in those books that Stephan, the lead vamp survived off animals instead of human blood."

He looked shocked and murmured something about talking to Carlisle whoever that was.

"I want you tell me everything about yourself," I demanded. I regretted the question as soon as I asked me. Why should he trust me with a secret so big? I had only just met him.

"Bella," he coaxed me to look at him, "I want to tell you everything. I never want to keep secrets from you. I'll tell you everything, let's just take this slow, ok?"

I nodded and he began explaining everything that was to know about vampires. The human drinkers and the animal drinkers. The difference in the color of their eyes and their strength. The way their color would change gradually, or due to intense emotions. Their speed, their different gifts, his gift in specific. I could only stare as he told me that they did not need to breathe and could survive indefinitely without air.

I caused him to have intermittent fits of laughter as I asked him about popular beliefs- vampires turning into bats, the stake through the heart etc. He'd laughed and informed me that I couldn't possibly force a titanium stake through him, let alone wooden one. When asked him about garlic, he explained how all-human food smelled foul to him, though garlic in specific did smell excessively obnoxious. I figured there was no point in asking him about the stories about sunlight burning them since I had seen him in day light several times, neither did the sleeping in coffins hold any truth since I had witnessed first hand the opulent bed upstairs.

I felt incredibly sad when he told me that he couldn't ever sleep. To think that he couldn't dream, or ever escape reality, made me realize how blessed my really was. When he finally stopped talking, I asked him if that was all.

"Well, I do have to tell you about my family, though let's leave that for tomorrow."

"You have a family? Why didn't you ever tell me? Where are they? Why don't you live with them? How come…" but he silenced me with a hard kiss.

When we finally pulled apart, he had a huge smile on his face and my breath caught in my throat at his sheer beauty.

"Only you, sweet heart, would get so excited at the prospect of meeting a family of vampires. Doesn't it make you nervous, or more appropriately, terrified?"

"Of course it doesn't terrify me. They're your family and an important part of your life. I am just curious to know about them. I thought you were the only one changed. I had no idea your entire family was turned into vampires."

He gave me a sad smile as he told me, "Bella, they're not the family I was born with, they're kind of like my adopted vampire family. They're the ones who taught me how to survive off of animal instead of humans."

"Well, they're obviously not here, so where are they?" I asked as my stomach gave a rather loud growl.

Imagine my surprise when the clock indicated that it was four in the afternoon. We had been talking for six hours without me even realizing it!

"That's what happens when you don't finish your breakfast sugar," he teased lightly.

"I completely forgot," I screamed as I jumped off of him. "I have to get to work by six and I haven't showered, or have clothes to change into, and this place is in the middle of nowhere! I have to get back!"

"Bella, you don't really need to go to work," he said. I looked at him incredulously. Did I just hear correctly?

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"I can take care of you," he said. "I hate the thought of you working in that bar is. I don't want you working in a place like that, late at night. Besides, you're nineteen, you can't drink alcohol, let alone serve it."

"Jasper Cullen," I ground out, irritated that he would presume so much about me. "I don't drink alcohol, never have. I am a cop's daughter and I was taught to follow the rules. Besides, I've been working at that bar since before you joined the college. I know the people there and it's perfectly safe. And before you ask me, no, I am not going to let you support me. I'm a big girl now and I can take care of myself."

His face hardened. "Bella, I know you thin you're safe there, but I can feel their emotions, how they feel about you, how they… lust after you. I don't want you to go there. You're mine!"

And possessive Jasper makes a comeback. I needed to end this conversation quickly before it turns worse and there was only one way to do it. I asked him a question that I knew he was uncomfortable with answering.

"I'm yours, am I? You still haven't answered the question that originally started this whole conversation. What did you mean when you called me your mate?"

As I had guessed, he looked slightly uncomfortable before he quickly recovered.

"I told you we'd talk about that tomorrow, Isabella. I just don't want to overload you with information," he defended.

"Great, you can tell me everything tomorrow, when I get back from work. And, please, don't argue about this. You can come in and watch me work if you want. That'll convince you that it's all good!"

He sighed. "I'd love to be able to keep an eye on all those hormonal men, but unfortunately I have an evening class to teach."

"You have a class on a Saturday night?' I asked skeptically.

"It's a one time thing, a kind of extra credit class for some of the weak ones."

"Ok. Well, I better get that shower. Would you care to join me, professor?" I suggested in what I hoped was a sultry voice. Apparently it had the desired effect because the next instant his eyes were black as a moonless midnight.

He pushed up his shirt I was wearing and cupped me through my panties.

"Miss Swan, I do believe you're guilty of indecent behavior. I think I need to punish you for your misbehavior," he growled as I pressed myself into his hand.

"Darlin', if you continue this, I don't think I'm gonna be able to let you go till Monday morning. If that's what you want, tell me and we'll take this upstairs," he whispered as he thrust his tongue into my mouth.

I moaned in pleasure as well as regret. I knew we couldn't let this escalate into more at the moment. I reluctantly went upstairs for my bath as he prepared a sandwich for me. I knew we had covered a lot of things about him and his kind, but I knew there was more to come, and something told me that whatever we discussed tomorrow, was going to be explosive.

I wolfed down my sandwich and asked Jasper to drive me to my apartment before I went to work so I could change into my own clothes.

We walked into his garage and saw the car he was planning on taking.

"A Hummer, Jasper? Really?"

He gave me a smirk as he helped me into my seat.

"I have nothing against the Mercedes, but it was only to make a quick get away from home. I wanted to return it, but Carlisle suggested it would go better with the professor persona than the humvee here."

As the drove the long distance from his mansion to my tiny apartment, I once again wondered who the enigma called Jasper Cullen was and if I would ever know him completely.

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A/N:

** Ok, so I know it has been a long, dry (ahem!) chapter. It's not really exciting since all the information is already known to everyone, though it was essential to get this and the coming conversations out of the way for the story to move forward.**

**I've tried my best to put my own spin on how the 'I'm a vampire' talk would go between Bella and Jasper, jumping from topic to topic as I would expect anyone to when faced with such information. I hope you're not disappointed with this chapter.**

**Oh and I simply couldn't pass up the chance to mention 'Vampire diaries' considering how there's been a lot of debate on how Twilight is a poor rip off from that series. **

**Next up:**** Make out session in the bar!**

**Thank you to all those who've reviewed! It's wonderful to read your thoughts and comments. Keep the love coming people!**

**Hugs,**

**KT.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer****: Twilight and its characters are owned by Stephanie Meyer.**

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Inception on a Rainy night**

Chapter 4

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BPOV:**

I struggled to maintain my composure as I sat in the car with Jasper as he drove me to the bar from my apartment. I knew that though he kept a straight face, he definitely had something to do with the overwhelming desire I was having for him. He had tried his damnedest at my apartment to keep me from going to work. And I had almost fallen for his games.

I am beginning to realize that resisting a vampire's charms, specially that of an empath can be a torturous task, especially since you want to do nothing more than to give in. I gave myself a mental pat on the back as I remembered how I had resisted his smoldering gaze and blatantly sexual touches as I changed my clothes for work. Suddenly he sent me a particularly powerful wave of lust, making my clit ache in the most delicious way.

"Jasper," I groaned. He was not about to make this easy for me.

He halted in front of the blinking neon lights of the bar as he gave me a wicked look and sent me more lust, making my groan turn into a moan. He grabbed me by the hips and pulled me into his lap, straddling him, as he ground himself against my aching core.

"I never said I would fight fair, darlin'," he drawled into my ear.

I decided to give him a taste of his own medicine as I cupped him in my hand and squeezed. He dropped his head to the crook of my neck with a growl as he began nipping and sucking there with enthusiasm. I began to return the favor by licking along the column of his throat in long, slow strokes making him buck his hips into my hand. Finally, I bit down on his ear lobe making him groan and pulled back quickly. I opened the door but he caught me before I could step out.

"You're playin' a dangerous game there, love," he warned.

"I never said I would fight fair either, Jasper," I returned as I pulled out of his grasp and stepped out of his monstrous vehicle. He sighed and looked at me with a firm expression.

"Fine, but I want you to be careful. I'll come by after my class and then take you back when you're done, but mark my words Isabella. If I find any of those drunk assholes much too close to you, I won't be held responsible for my actions," he threatened ominously.

"Jasper, you don't need to worry about anything. I'll be fine and I'll see you later on. Have a good class, ok?"

I turned around, only to find myself staring into his face again. I gasped and took a step back instinctively, almost tripping over.

"Jasper!" I hissed, "don't do that! You scared the shit out of me. And what if someone had seen you?"

"Nobody saw anything, though I do think you're forgetting somethin' sugar," he drawled out, putting heavy emphasis on the southern accent. I now knew that something about the southern drawl turned me on immensely and apparently Jasper knew that.

"Oh really? And what might that be?" I asked flirtatiously in a horrible imitation of his southern charm, whipping an imaginary fan around my face.

He pulled me to him by my waist as he leaned in to whisper, "That would be my goodbye kiss, ma'am."

He captured my lips in a searing kiss before he latched onto my neck, sucking furiously. When he straightened and I found my bearing, I noticed him looking incredibly smug about something. My eyes widened as it dawned upon me. To confirm my suspicions, I looked into the rearview mirror, and sure enough, there was a huge red hickey on my neck, under the side of my jaw.

"You gave me a hickey! I don't even have a scarf to hide this! How am I going to fend off all the questions?"

"By telling everyone that you're taken. You're mine Isabella and I want the world to know that."

I wanted to point out that I couldn't possibly admit to having a relationship with him, since he was a professor and if word of us leaked out, he would be fired and I would be rusticated. But I didn't want to argue, lest possessive Jasper make another guest appearance and make it impossible for me to leave.

I gave him a quick peck on the lips, and a smile as I called out a 'see you later' before hurrying into the building. The more time we spent together, the less like it would be for me to get to work on time.

"Sweet ride," I heard a deep bass voice comment as I entered bar. Being a Saturday, it was already full, but I was in time for my shift, barely.

"Thanks Duke, just a friend dropping me off," I replied as I got behind the bar, tightening my shoelaces so that I didn't trip over with the floor littered in glass bottles. It had become a second nature for me to make all kinds of contingency plans regarding any potential threats, no matter where I was given my status of Miss. Klutz.

"Friend give you that hickey as well?" he asked as he casually leaned against the bar, giving me a piercing look.

No, nothing ever escaped the sharp eyes of Duke. I would have added his last name, only I didn't know what it was. Nobody did. Duke was a tall 6'9, African American, the owner of the bar, though very few people knew that fact. He worked in the capacity of a bouncer, and with his hulking frame, he looked the part. Duke was a man of steel with the heart of gold.

There were several rumors on the campus about him. He was a paroled convict, he was a part of a dangerous gang, he was a druggie… the list went on and on. It didn't help his reputation that he never defended himself against these allegations. Fact is, the only thing that kept some of the roughnecks from vandalizing the bar was his intimidating size and rumors about him carrying about a gun from his gang days. He'd once admitted that it was he himself who'd started those rumors.

I had been terrified when I had walked into the bar looking for work. I was not in the best state financially and was quite desperate. When faced with Duke, I had paled, stammered, stuttered and finally tripped before getting any coherent sentence out. He had pulled out a chair for me, made me sit on it and drink a glass of water before I continued. He'd given me the job despite me telling him about my accident-prone condition upfront. He'd told me that everything was fine with me where it mattered. I had started working at the bar the same evening.

Many people found it shocking that I worked the bar, rather than being a waitress. What they obviously didn't know that my potential for causing an accident was magnified a hundred times when I tried to carry a tray laden with drinks through a crowded bar. No, I was definitely better off working behind the counter. Sure, there were the initial crude jokes and cheap proposals, but that had quieted down with time, mostly to the angry glowers that Duke sent such men. I am relieved that that phase of my job is over. I'm sure Jasper definitely would have blown a fuse if he had witnessed something like that. And that was the understatement of a century.

Duke always strongly reminded me of Jake back home. Though younger than me, he had very conveniently slipped into the role of the protective sibling as we grew up together. The fact that Billy and Charlie were near inseparable and were together almost every weekend for with ether fishing or baseball games only strengthened our bond. I often wonder how I would have turned out if I hadn't had his influence in my life. Everybody commented on what an introvert I was here at college. If only they had known me before Jake's influence. He brought out the fun side of me, the part of me that wanted laugh and giggle and do completely crazy things, with him right by my side. Jake was my own very personal sun. Just the thought of him brought a smile to my face.

"What's with the smile, missy? Find that special someone in your life?" Duke continued to look at me unflinchingly.

_Yes!_ I wanted to scream with joy but I figured the following questions would be impossible to answer, especially since I didn't know the answer to most of them myself. So I decided to lie, hoping to heavens that my abysmal lying skills would suffice, just this once.

"No, actually I was just thinking about Jake," I replied and turned to a guy to take his order. Thankfully, the bar only served beer, whiskey and vodka, so didn't need to mix any drinks. What drew the people to the bar was the good music, the typical pub atmosphere and yet the utter safety of the place.

"Jake suddenly come into town and left after giving you a hickey?" he continued to badger me.

"Why are you so fascinated with the damned hickey, Duke? It was just a one night stand," I lied, though I could feel the blush spreading on my cheeks.

I'd only had sex with two guys before Jasper, and I'd _thought_ that I was in a relationship with them at that time. Casual sex just wasn't my cup of tea. Again I prayed that Duke would fall for this explanation and not push it further.

"That blush tells me otherwise, young lady," he admonished.

"Don't you dare start that young lady business with me, Duke-whoever-you-are," I snapped. "You're not my daddy and I don't even answer to him anymore so stop trying to stick your nose in where it doesn't belong!"

"Must be a hell of a guy if you're trying so hard to keep him to yourself. Just please tell me it isn't some shaggy old professor from one of your artsy classes."

My eyes widened like a hare caught in the headlights as more blood suffused my cheeks. How the hell did he know? It hadn't been less than twenty-four hours since me and Jasper began our… whatever it was.

I faced away from him, pretending to search for something at the shelves behind the counter as I mumbled out, "only you would deem a literature class artsy."

The next instant, he was behind the bar, pulling me away from the shelves, facing me, his face contorted in rage. "Have you completely lost it, girl?" he hissed. "What're you thinking, carrying on with a professor. I know you're keeping decent grades despite the hours you keep at the bar and the library, so what brought this on?"

All my embarrassment evaporated away as I realized how people could view our relationship. I had only been thinking about the rulebook when I thought about our relationship, not the reasons for why those rules were made.

Duke's firm shake pulled me out of my funk. He was still waiting for my reply. A reply I couldn't ever give him.

"Stop acting like you're my keeper, Duke. I'm thankful for you having given me this job and looking out for me, but this isn't your business. Please, just drop it," I begged him as I shook my arm free.

"Bells, I know you might think this guy is what you've been looking for, but please think about this. You're just beginning to start out your life; you're smart, bright and intelligent. You've got a real shot at having a good decent life. Do you really wanna screw it up for some guy in a tweed jacket who can spout some mushy Shakespeare?" he asked, trying to reason with me.

He couldn't have been farther away from the truth if he tried, not that I was going to correct him.

"Duke, like I said, it was only one night. I have no idea if it'll go any further. Please, I don't want to discuss this right now."

"You don't know if it'll go further, but you want it to, don't you?"

Why in God's name did he have to be the most perceptive male ever?

"Hey! What's it gonna take to get some service here?" asked a pimply faced guy, with cash in his hand.

I went to attend to him. Duke was standing right where he was when I turned back.

"Please, please, I'm begging you. Just drop it!"

He shook his head in a resigned fashion.

"I hope you know what you're doing Bells. I don't agree with what you're doing, but I'm not gonna tell on you. I'm hoping you'll come to your senses soon enough and drop this guy. And I really hope that you don't get caught sneaking around with him."

Yes, Duke was a gem of a friend. I gave him a quick hug.

"Don't worry about it. And if I need help, you'll be the first person to know."

"You do that, I'll knock some sense into the guy if he gets too thick," he winked as I smiled. "I just don't wanna see you get hurt, Bells."

Things got back to normal quickly after our little chat and as the crowds started pouring in, I forgot everything but opening beer bottles and pouring vodka shots. Before I knew it, it was two in the morning and my shift was over. Normally, Duke would herd out any lingering customers at this point, but he let people stay for another hour and a half on Saturdays.

"You go on, girl. I'll take it from here," he stated as I removed my apron and heaved a sigh of relief. That was when it struck me; Jasper hadn't turned up. I felt a sharp pain in my chest as I realized he hadn't kept his word about coming here after his class.

Kept his word? I snorted. I sounded like I was talking of my husband of forty years. What had I been expecting? For him to wait on me hand and knees and then profess his undying love to me? He'd probably high tailed out of here when he realized that he's revealed his secret to me.

I'm just gonna take stock downstairs and then head home," I informed Duke, hoping he wouldn't hear my voice choked up with the tears threatening to escape.

He nodded, but from the look he gave me, I knew he spotted something wrong with me. I was too tired and heartbroken to care. The jukebox was blaring out some recent chart breaking number as I made my way to the door that lead to the basement. The same rude pimply-faced guy who'd interrupted my conversation with Duke waylaid me.

"Hey dollface wanna dance?" he asked, leering at me. I tried to side step him but he blocked me again.

"No thanks, I gotta get going," I replied as I tried to move past him again.

"You want me to com with you there? I don't want a pretty faced girl like you getting scared in the dark basement. We could have fun down there," he added as he grabbed me around the waist."

"Hey!" duke roared, "let go of her," he thundered as he reached us. He guy had let go of me instinctively and looked ready to piss his pants. I quietly moved away and started down the stairs. I switched on the old yellow flickering light bulb, and started counting the packed crates of beer.

Suddenly, I was pressed against a pile of crates, hands held above my head with a cool, stone like hand as I felt another running down my spine. Cold lips traced the shell of my ear as they breathed a single word.

"Isabella."

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A/N:**** Apologies for the delay in the lemon, but it's Diwali tomorrow and I won't be able to write or update for another week so I wanted to get this in while I could. I promise I'll make the next chapter worth your wait.**

**Thanks for all your lovely reviews.**

**By the way, what do you make of Duke? Does he meet your approval? And what do you think is going to happen in next chapter?**

**Reviews are like sweets in Diwali, I love them!**

**Hugs,**

**-KT.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** Twilight and its characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.

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**Inception on a Rainy night**

**Chapter 5:**

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**A/N: This chapter has absolutely noting to do with the progression of the plot of the story. This is the promised lemon, which should have made an appearance in the previous chapter.**

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**BPOV:**

_Jasper!_ My heart sang, even as his touch did things to my body. His lips continued to trace the shell of my ear as his hand slipped beneath my tee to slowly stroke my back. Goose bumps broke across my flesh, not form his cold, but his touch. Gently, he slipped his hand to the front, caressing my stomach. I had to bit my lips to prevent the moans that were threatening to escape. Slowly, torturously, his hand moved up between my breasts and stayed there. I realized that he was feeling my heart beat.

"Mine," came his low growl and with that my pebbled nipples hardened painfully.

He whipped me around to face him, still holding my hands above my head and pushed me back into the stack of crates. His eyes were black, and I knew it was anger more than passion.

"You reek of them," he hissed, his expression fierce, as he pinched my nipple hard through my bra.

I didn't even try to hold myself back this time. I moaned, long and hard. His lips were almost onto mine as he whispered.

"Shh… Miss Swan. There are people up there, do you want them to come down here and watch what a dirty little girl you are?" he growled.

I tried to capture his lips with mine by craning my neck, but he wasn't having any of it. He pulled back, my want for him so acute that I wasn't above begging. I couldn't explain the hold, the pull he had for me, but I knew I was ruined for life. I would never love another like this.

_I love him?_

_Yes!_ My heart sang as it bubbled over with the same emotion I had felt when we had first finished making love. I love him and would stay by his side for as long as he would have me.

He buried his face in my neck and purred. Another vampire thing. He must have felt my emotions. His breathing grew ragged as his hold in my hands tightened; his other had gripping my waist.

"Do you have any idea how difficult it is for me, to smell those men on you? I almost killed that little shit when he put his paws on you," he hissed as he began licking and sucking on the hickey he'd given just hours ago. It went on for so long that I worried I would be left with a permanent mark on my neck.

"You're mine, Isabella," he said in a deadly calm voice, and instead of scaring me it just made me wetter. "I'll annihilate anyone who tries to take you from me."

He finally brought down his lips on mine, and as I felt his cool tongue slip into my mouth, I knew this was where I belonged.

"You're mine," he repeated and I could see the possessive streak on his face. He nipped my bottom lip, "this belongs to me," he declared as his hand squeezed my breast, "mine," he continued, and finally, slipped a finger inside me, pressing the heel of his hand on my clit, "All mine," he concluded.

_When had he gotten my pants undone? _A part of my brain asked. That part was easy to ignore. I felt my hands being tied by something and as I looked up, I found that it was a torn piece of silk and lace. My panties. I don't know how, but he managed to tether my hands above my head with something I couldn't see and turned to look at me with the cruelest expression I had ever seen on his face.

"Do you want me, Isabella?" he asked.

I nodded.

"Say it!" he demanded.

"Yes," I gasped out.

"You know that anyone could walk in on us, maybe that huge black bear that you're so friendly with, and reek of will come down wondering where you are," he continued talking as he removed my jeans.

I watched in silent anticipation as he pulled up my tee and ripped off my bra from my body. I was going to experience a serious shortage of lingerie if this was the rate at which he kept tearing them off. Again he blurred, and then I was sitting on top of a couple of crates, completely naked as he adjusted the height of my tied hands that were beginning to ache a little.

I greedily eyes his jeans covered bulge. A single touch from him turned me wanton, my mind focused only on him, on his touch as my brain ceased processing the world around us. He spread my legs apart, and then placed my heels at the edge of the crate and catching up, I scooted my butt to the edge as well, exposing myself completely to him.

Two days ago, I could never imagine myself doing something like this, behaving in such a manner and yet with Jasper, it felt natural to open myself to him, offer myself to him. He thrust two fingers into my core and my head fell back, hitting the crate behind me with a dull thud as the bottles inside rattled slightly.

He began to pump into me fast and hard with his fingers, leaving me frantic to catch up with him.

"Do you like this Isabella?" he asked, lips twisted into a sneer.

Before I could answer, he thrust in another finger, never breaking his pace and I couldn't help the scream that left my lips before he clamped his hand down on my mouth. He lowered his face so our noses were almost touching, his fingers continuing to work me, his dark eyes glinting with passion.

"Do you want them to come down to watch me take you, Isabella? Does the idea of others watching turn you on, hmm?" he asked, his hand still clamped down on my mouth. "Shake or nod your head," he commanded.

I managed to shake my head, though how my mind managed to make that decision I'll never know. His fingers twisted inside me, making me choke on my own scream as his hand stayed firmly planted on my mouth.

"If you don't want the others to see what naughty things your professor does to you, you'll keep quiet Miss Swan," he instructed as he finally removed his hand. The next instant, his thumb was circling my clit as his mouth punished my nipples in the most delicious of ways.

I clamped my teeth shut, trying to keep the animalistic noises I wanted to make from escaping. He relentlessly continues his assault on my body, which continued to respond to him like an obedient disciple. I could feel my orgasm building, my body spirally to the height of ecstasy, when he removed his fingers from me abruptly, bringing me crashing down from my bliss.

"No!" I moaned in protest, no longer caring of what the world might hear. He slipped his fingers, coated with my juices into my mouth, making me taste myself. I liked his fingers clean, when he sheathed himself into me with no warning. The scream that erupted from the pits of my belly came out as a choked gurgle due to his fingers still in my mouth. I felt his hard thickness pulsing within me as my bottom stung from the coarse wood of the crate, having been thrust back by his force.

He grabbed my hips with both his hands as he pulled me back to the edge of the crate and I reveled in the feeling of being complete.

He started pounding into me, long, fast deep strokes as he held my eyes with his.

"You're mine, Isabella; mind and body, heart and soul, you belong to me," and while his voice was low, I could hear the storm raging in them.

"Yours," I choked out.

"Again," he demanded as he continued to fill me again and again.

"Only yours," I managed, successfully limiting myself to only those two words.

"Convince me."

"Yours, yours, yours…" I chanted hoping I could convince him, afraid he would stop again. I needed him to go on, I was close, so close. I could feel the bubble of my pleasure growing, ready to pop.

_Just there, just there_… I chanted in my head as I raced to reach fulfillment.

"You know my gift Bella, I won't let you come till you convince me properly," he growled slightly.

_Oh God! He was holding back my orgasm? _This has to be the cruelest form of torture.

Jasper was relentless and the pleasure was too much to let my mind function properly. He continued moving in and out of me, the rash from the coarse wood of the crate creating another dimension to the experience. The smell of my sweat and our sex permeated the dank air which itself mildly smelled of liquor.

Soon, very soon the pleasure became too much and started turning into pain. I began begging Jasper for release, something that was becoming increasingly familiar in the short while we had know each other.

"Please," I begged but he remained silent, his face a mask of determination and concentration.

"Please, Jasper, I'm yours. Yours!" I choked out, tears beginning to blur my eyes. It was too much, just too much and I didn't think I could take any more.

"Try again," he prompted.

"I'm yours, I'll always be yours."

"Try again," he ground out.

I made a last attempt, knowing my body could no longer bear the overload of pleasure.

"Forever yours," I whispered, on the brink of my sanity.

"Yes," he hissed.

The next instant, he pressed down on my clit, sending me into the most violent orgasm of my life, as his mouth descended on mine to capture my screams. Tears ran down my cheeks as my body seized up, pleasure and pain running amok in my body, muscles spasming, heart fluttering, blood thundering as I felt his cool seed fill me. My soul seemed to soar above my body as I slumped in his arms, knowing I was safe in his embrace.

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**A/N:**** You people amaze me with your response. A big thank you goes out to all those of you who've read and reviewed this story, added it to their favorite's list and story alerts.**

**Please don't ask me how I got this chapter out so quickly. Let's just say you really don't want to get caught typing a lemon n your daddy's laptop!**

**Reviews are like love; there can never be too much!**

**Hugs**

**-KT.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Inception n a rainy night**

**Chapter 6**

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Disclaimer:** Twilight and its characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.

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JPOV: **

I lay in bed, quietly holding my girl in my arms as she slept. I had no shame in admitting that I was a coward. Yes, the creature that instills fear in the heart of the strongest creatures on the planet, the God of war, was a coward. Scared of one mortal girl, who had the power to shatter his heart of stone by a single disdainful curl of her lips.

_Shit!_ Now I was beginning to sound like an 18th century writer.

I pulled Bella close to me, burying my face in her hair, breathing in her scent. I knew she would be cold, I knew I should wrap her up in the comforter, keep her away from my cold, dead skin, but I was a selfish creature. I needed to feel her warmth, her softness against my skin. I needed to know she was close to me. She had stirred three times since I had smuggled her out of that dingy bar and brought her home. All three times, I had sent her a dose of lethargy to keep her from waking up. I couldn't face her yet. Not after the brutal way in which I had claimed her in a semi-public location.

I had screwed up, badly.

I placed my hand on her bottom, still slightly pink from where the rough wood had abraded her delicate skin. She squirmed slightly and I stiffened, afraid I had woken her up, but she just snuggled into me and continued to sleep as a soft sigh left her lips. I hated myself for having hurt my Bella, all the more because the animal within me continued to purr at the proof of my dominance over her and how she had accepted it.

My girl was so remarkable, she not only didn't run when she discovered what I was, but also showed me affection. Affection, that I was sure would no longer be granted after what I had done.

Downstairs, I heard my mobile ping, indicating another message had been received. That was the forty-sixth message I had received in the last two hours that I had been home.

_Damn that pixie! _

I didn't want to pick up, but I knew I needed her help. Unfortunately, I also knew the lecture that was coming and I was not looking forward to it. Besides, to get to the phone, I would need to leave Bella, and the thought of loosing her warmth, even for a second, made me ache. But then I noticed the goose bumps on her body, showing clearly it was time that I wrapped her up safely. With a heavy heart, I gently pulled myself away from her and tucked her into the warm comforter. I as moved downstairs, I stoked the fire in the fireplace, and added some wood to it hoping it would warm up Bella faster.

The phone began to ring before I reached the last stair. Quickly, I picked it up hoping Bella wouldn't be disturbed by it.

On the other end, I heard nothing. Absolutely nothing. It would be so like Alice to start ranting and raving as soon as I picked up the phone, but her silence unnerved me.

"Alice," I said as calmly as I could.

That triggered the deluge.

"You moron! You absolutely fucked up little piece of shit!" she hissed, even as I heard Esme's admonishing words in the background on her choice of words. I took the blame for the deterioration of her vocabulary; five decades with me had rubbed off on her.

"Do you have any idea, any idea at all of how close you came to hurting her?" she shrieked. " I saw you, _saw you_ holding a bloody Bella as you rushed her to the hospital! Do you want to kill her? Because if the answer's yes, there are more merciful ways of doing it. Fucking someone to the point of death might sound good in a book, but you really don't want that to turn into a reality with your mate, do you?"

A growl escaped my chest as she blatantly mentioned me killing my Bella. That would never happen, I had sworn to that. I could never let anyone, myself included, hurt her.

"You would have pulverized her pelvis, you wouldn't even have been able to explain her injuries to a doctor!" she continued to shout.

I reigned in my temper as I took a deep breath. She had no right to talk to me like that after what she'd done to me. It was time I reminded her of that.

"Nothing of the sort happened, Alice. I would never hurt my mate, the woman I love deliberately." I knew it was a low shot, but she needed to know I hadn't forgiven her, I didn't think I could ever possibly completely forgive her.

"Jasper," her voice sounded pained and I heard the apology in that one word, but I needed time before I could even begin to forgive her. I had made as much clear to her.

"What did you need to talk to me for?" I asked instead of rehashing the same old topic.

"You need to tell her, as quickly as you can. Before she goes to College on Monday. Even her innocent actions will set you off Jasper; you need to take this seriously. It has not yet hit you completely, but you are going to get increasingly possessive of her. Trust me, you'll need all the help she can offer to be able to stay in control."

I could clearly hear what she wasn't telling me. She'd had a vision of me, doing something obviously terrible.

"What did you see?" I asked her through clenched teeth.

"Nothing that can't be changed, Jazz. I am going to wait till you tell her, so that I can see how that changes things, if it still doesn't change the future, we'll think of something else."

"Did I hurt her?" I asked in a voice so low, I was unsure if Alice had heard.

"No, Jasper. I know you could never willingly hurt her. She's your mate, technically that makes it impossible for you to hurt her deliberately, but you need to understand that the dynamics of your relationship are very different compared to other mated vampires. She's human, but that doesn't change your mating instincts. You'll want to dominate her and you'll expect her to submit. When that doesn't happen, you will get rough with her and while it doesn't matter to mated vampires, you will hurt her in the process."

"I already hurt her," I said thinking of her bruised bottom.

"I can't tell you how she's going to react to that. She hasn't made up her mind and if you don't want her to get the wrong impression, you need to come clean with her. Explain to her what being a mate constitutes, tell her how your relationship is going to be a lot more strained due to the difference in your… species," she said as I snorted.

Carlisle always insisted that we were a different human species, closely related, just infinitely superior in some areas. I knew because of my talent that though he may say so, he felt no pleasure at belonging to this particular group.

"How can I explain everything to her when I myself don't understand the phenomenon clearly? I've never felt it before," I blurted out and the next instant I realized my mistake. It must have hurt her, but she was the one who'd known that we weren't mates from the beginning of our relationship. I decided to continue as if I hadn't noticed what I had said.

"And there are too many variables, when was the last recorded case of a vampire mating with a human? I asked.

"Eight hundred and sixty three years ago," came Carlisle's voice from the background. I knew he'd been researching my situation relentlessly since the day I had set my eyes on Bella and called him up frantically. I had been completely bewildered. Her blood called to me like no other had and yet, I had felt no thirst. It was impossible to explain. My throat burned, but I couldn't bear the thought drinking from her, hurting her, killing her.

I had wanted to pick her up from the crowded classroom and keep her a safe distance from all those hormonal boys in the class. I wanted her to see only me, hear me, touch me… me, me, me! I had wanted her so bad that even today when I think of it, I can't understand how I had controlled myself.

"That's it!" Alice screamed. "It's perfect," she continued as she started babbling at a speed difficult even for my vampire hearing.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, irritated to no end with her antics. I couldn't believe I had once found such behavior endearing.

"I was just thinking about how Carlisle was the one with maximum knowledge about vampire mating and then the vision stuck me. Carlisle needs to come over there tomorrow so he can talk to the both of you and explain things clearly to Bella. And it's not that I don't want you telling her yourself, it's just that you'll let either your or her emotions get in the way and that conversation is going to go around in circles and you're not going to get anywhere," she huffed.

"Jasper, would you mind if I came over to talk to the two of you?" asked Carlisle, and a growl ripped through my chest before I realized it. As soon as I realized what I had done, I apologized.

"I'm sorry Carlisle, I don't know what came over me."

He chuckled to my surprise. "It was just as I had expected, Jasper. You perceive me as a threat to your mate. Not just me, any vampire will make your mating instincts heighten. It is not so strong towards humans, though from what Alice described, you came pretty close to losing it towards a human yesterday," he said and I could hear the smile in his voice.

"He was putting his hands all over her," I defended.

Now he laughed out loud and I could hear chuckles and snorts coming from the rest of the family members.

"Don't blame yourself, Jasper. It's completely normal, in fact I am extremely proud of the fact that that boy is still alive."

"I had some help from Alice," I grudgingly admitted.

If she hadn't seen what was about to happen and called me up, screaming in my ears for a good twenty five minutes, threatening me with all sorts of scenarios where Bella would never want to see my face again, I probably would have given into my instincts and ripped that piece of shit apart.

Nobody messed with my girl.

"If it makes you uncomfortable, I am sure we can arrange a video conference where we can talk to each other. I do not want to stress you unnecessarily."

I thought about it but if I needed to learn how to stay in control, Carlisle was by far the best person I could start with. He had an air of complete ease about him and I figured while it may make me uncomfortable, his visit would be helpful in the long run.

"Do you think you could come here tomorrow? I would really like to do this face to face," I told him.

"I think you are making the right choice son, I'm proud of you. Also, I can't wait to meet Bella. From what Alice tells me, she's an amazing creature," he said.

"I'm sorry you have to do this on such short notice…" I trailed of but Alice interrupted immediately.

"Oh don't worry about that Jazz, it'll only take him about an hour and a half to reach there."

Alarm bells started going off in my head at her words. "Alice, where exactly are you at the moment?" I asked, dreading her answer.

"Oh we didn't tell you Jasper, we didn't want to burden you any more, but we moved about four weeks ago," she said in dulcet tones. I knew there wasn't an ounce of innocence in that sweet honey voice.

"What did you do?" I hissed. " I told you to stop meddling in my affairs."

"Oh don't go all emo vamp on me Jazz," she said carelessly. "You are going to thank me later on."

"Where did you move?" I asked impatiently.

"Forks, Washington."

**A/N:**** Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter done. I hope it cleared a few things about the background. **

_**An important**_** thing, I am sure you have noticed that I've used more profanities in this chapter than I have ever used before. I have read several B/J fics before and know that I loved most of them. A lot of them have influenced my thoughts and that'll probably show as we move forward in this story. Most of them have excessive use of profanities, something I don't agree with or am comfortable with. Call me a prude if you want to, but my writing will never be needlessly peppered with profanities. I'll use them when the situation really calls for them, and even then I'll try to limit their use. I am a big advocate of using verbal filters.**

**With that done, what do you think of Jasper and Alice's relationship? And what will happen in future?**

**Up next, Carlisle visits Bella and Jasper. Will Jasper be able to control himself? And how will Bella react to Vampire mating 101? Let me know what you think.**

**Thanks for all your love and support.**

**Hugs,**

**KT.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Inception on a rainy night**

**Chapter 7**

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Disclaimer:** Twilight and its characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.

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BPOV:**

I slowly drifted to consciousness, feeling as though I was floating on a cloud. My being was suffused with bliss, as I felt boneless with joy. I became aware of two cold arms wrapped around me and smiled. Jasper. I opened my eyes to find his face peering at me, concern written all over it. His curls were disheveled and one lock fell onto his forehead, his tawny eyes staring at me. I couldn't help myself as I leaned up and kissed him.

"Good morning," I sighed happily, wishing I could always wake up like this, wrapped up in his arms.

"Good morning," he answered, still looking slightly wary.

"What's the matter?" I asked as I rolled onto my back and hissed.

I felt a mild stinging in my butt as joints and muscles I had never knew existed in my body protested.

Then it all came back to me. I had been at the bar, working, tired. I remembered coming across that jerk who pawed at me before Duke took care of him for me. I remembered going down to take inventory where Jasper had managed to find me. I remembered how angry he had been, something about him smelling Duke and the other guy on me. Was he still mad at me? Was that why he was behaving so strangely now?

He had retracted his arms from around me and I felt the sting of rejection before I firmly tamped it down.

"Are you still mad at me?" I asked, bracing myself for his reply.

"Mad at you? Bella are you crazy? Why in the world should I be mad at you? You're the one who should be telling me to get lost." He said, lowering his head, his disarrayed curls hiding his face.

I cocked my head to the side, considering his words, racking my brains for something even mildly offensive in his actions. I could come up with nothing.

"Why would I do that?" I asked, confusion evident in my voice. I was sure he could feel it as well.

He looked up at me and the intensity of pain I saw in his eyes would have brought me to my knees if I hadn't already been sitting down. It made my heart ache to see him in such turmoil. I cupped his face in my hands, despite the aching muscles in my arms.

"What is it? What happened?"

"I hurt you," he whispered, as his hand ghosted over my sore bottom and try as I might, another hiss escaped my lips.

I was trying to come up with something to assuage his guilt when my brain finally started functioning. We had been in the cellar at the bar, how had he managed to get me out of there? More importantly, how had he managed to get in there in the first place?

"Jasper, how did you get in the bar last night? How did you get past Duke?"

He looked confused for a moment, and then smiled.

"After knowing everything about me, how can you even ask me that question? I walked right through the bar, only it was too quick for him to notice. Is that all you're worrying about?"

"But, I passed out on you, how did you get me out as well?"

At this, he appeared sheepish for a moment and then mumbled something too quick for me to understand.

"Allow me to remind you that I am not a vampire, Professor Cullen," I huffed.

"I distracted them," he said evasively, but I was not convinced.

"What did you do?" I demanded.

"I sent them a dose of lust so that they'd get distracted, I would have sent them humor instead, but my own feelings were too strong for me to be able project anything other than what I was feeling."

I gaped at him incredulously. I remembered only too well what I had felt when he'd used that particular emotion on me a day ago. I couldn't imagine what would have happened if he let loose those emotions in a bar full of people.

"What happened?"

He looked up into my eyes, a roughish grin trying to replace his somber look on his face.

"Let's just say that _Duke_ is going to be doing a lot of in depth thinking about his sexual orientation in the coming days," he said as the smirk finally won over and suddenly, he was a far cry from the apologetic man I had seen just moments ago.

The mental picture his words created had me cringing, trying to squeeze the disturbing image out of my mind I as shut my eyes as an involuntary "Eww…"made its way through my mouth.

"You caused a mass orgy in a public bar so that you could smuggle me out of it?"

A fit of giggles over took me as I tried to imagine the faces of the people once they had come out of their Jasper induced trance. I fell over laughing and continued to do so for another full minute before I quieted down. I looked up to find Jasper looking at me, a smile on his face, his gaze adoring as he looked into my eyes, but something kept nagging at the back of my mind. I focused on that feeling, churning inside though I couldn't exactly name what it was.

Then it struck me, his promise. He'd promised he'd come to see me at the bar after he finished his lecture and he hadn't turned up. I remembered the tears that had filled my eyes thinking that he hadn't wanted me and suddenly, I was mad. Why had he broken his promise? Why had me feel worthless, rejected? And then what right did he have waltz in like a God and claim my body like it belonged to him? Not that I minded him tying me up like that, which was incredibly hot, but that was beyond the point.

The next second, I was crushed against his chest, his face buried in the crook of my neck.

"Don't be mad at me," he begged. "Please, darlin', don't be mad at me. I promise I'll never hurt you again. I promise, I'll never do something like that again, I'll control myself, just forgive me. Please, my Bella."

"Why?" I asked. "Why didn't you come, Jasper? You've no idea how I felt. You promised you'd come after the class, you never turned up," I complained. Even as I said the words out loud, I felt foolish. I knew I was over-reacting. Lot's of people got stood up on their dates; we didn't even have a date. So why did his actions affect me so? I knew I loved him, but I was falling for him so fast, it scared me. The fact he wasn't even human, intimidated me all the more. I was just a human, an insignificant little snack in his world. Would he even want me the way I wanted me?

He pulled back to look at me, his hands cupping my face, his thumbs wiping away the tears from my eyes that I wasn't aware of. He looked bewildered, confused and lost.

"Bella," he looked into my eyes as if trying to see through my soul, "what are you thinking? Why are you feeling like this?"

I took a long breath, and recklessly said the one sentence that often marked the beginning of the end for many a relationships.

"What are we, Jasper? What do we call this… this thing between us?"

The rational part of my mind told me that anything that could have developed between us was now at an end. Putting a name to a relationship was the one thing that most men balked at and I had barely known Jasper for a day and a half, and here I was demanding that he define our relationship. I knew he was going to put that vampire speed of his to good use and disappear from here.

Instead, he wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into his stone chest till we were pressed up against each other, our noses touching and there was nowhere to look but into each others eyes.

"Listen to me very carefully Isabella," he spoke in a low clear voice. He wasn't angry, but there was a fierce emotion burning in his golden gaze. " I never want to feel those emotions coming off of you again. You never need to be insecure. This thing between is stronger than the strongest bond you can think of. You are what is air to a human being and blood to a vampire. I need you in order to survive, to exist. You are my life now, the sole purpose of my existence."

His grip on my waist tightened as our foreheads touched, his breath cool and fragrant on my lips. "What we have is eternal and everlasting, my Bella. It is forever."

His lips ghosted along my own, whispering promises of secrets untold. It was slow, tender and chaste, but that kiss was by far the most beautiful thing I had ever felt. He sighed when we finally pulled apart, his heady scent making my head swim like I was on a high. He propped himself against the headboard and pulled me between his legs, my back against his chest.

"Do you forgive me?"

"Do you have to ask?" I countered.

He pressed a kiss on my head and buried his head in my hair.

"Isabella Swan, you are the most exquisite creature I have ever had the pleasure of knowing," he whispered reverently as his hands ghosted over my still naked form. He paused at my hip bones, settling his hands on the bruises that covered them. I sighed as his cold skin soothed the ache there. I hadn't realized that he had gripped me hard enough to bruise me, but then my skin was easily marked.

"I promise I'll never be so rough with you again," he said sincerely. He must have felt my disappointment because he turned me around to face him and gave me a questioning look. I snuggled against his chest, unable to look into his eyes and my cheeks heated up with the familiar blush.

"I didn't mind it so much," I mumbled, wondering how I would ever look him in the face ever again. "I liked it and you didn't hurt me, my skin bruises easily."

Swiftly, in a way I was slowly becoming used to, he flipped me on my back and hovered above me, eyes as black as that of a magpie. But I broke the moment by squirming, my bottom still sore and irritable. He looked like he was about to withdraw, but I was having none of that. I wrapped my arms around his neck, and pulled him to me.

"The next time you tie me up, Professor, make sure you put me on a smooth surface," I whispered throatily.

He closed his eyes and his jaw tensed.

"Bella, it is taking all of my formidable control to not take you like an animal in heat right now. I'm trying my best to be gentle with you darlin', and you're making it too damn hard for me to do."

My brazenness surprised me when I rubbed myself on his erection that was poking into my thigh. "I know how _hard_ it is Jasper," I said as I nipped at his bottom lip, "and I like it just like that."

He growled loudly and flipped me on to my stomach and placed a pillow under me so that my butt was high in the air. He was gone for less than a second before I felt something warm on my sore skin. He rubbed the oil gently into my skin, the combination of his cold touch and the heat of the oil doing more than just soothing my skin. I was wet down below and I knew he could not only smell it, but feel it as well.

His hands worked the oil into my skin, stroking and kneading my globes and then moved onto the rest of my body. He worked each and every muscle in my body; neck, arms, shoulders and back. He remained quiet the entire time yet I could feel his emotions flowing into me at the points where his cool fingers met my heated flesh. He finished by placing a kiss at the nape of my neck, and trailed down my back pressing a kiss to each vertebrae of my spine till the tail bone, and finished by pressing a kiss to my previously sore bottom.

I dissolved into a fit of giggles at his action and a pressed a kiss to his lips as he gathered me into his arms.

"You feelin' better, sugar?" he asked.

"Mmm…hmmm," I hummed, "but I know how you can make it even better," I suggested as I pressed against his body, my hand questing below his abdomen when he stiffened, hissed and then sat up clutching me in his arms.

Downstairs, I heard the bell ring. We had a guest.

**

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A/N:**** This chapter got out of hand, so the sex ed class with Carlisle will have to wait till the next chapter. I promise to update as soon as I can.**

**IOARN**** now has over a hundred reviews! Many thanks to all of you who took the time to review, it means a lot to me and does wonders for my self-confidence.**

**Hugs,**

**-KT.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Inception on a rainy night**

**Chapter 8**

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**Disclaimer:** Twilight and its characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.

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**A/N:**** This chapter is dedicated to **_StormDragonfly_ **for all her help and guidance. It's a joy to have you as a friend and guide.**

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**Previously:**

"_Mmm…hmmm," I hummed, "but I know how you can make it even better," I suggested as I pressed against his body, my hand questing below his abdomen when he stiffened, hissed and then sat up clutching me in his arms._

_Downstairs, I heard the bell ring. We had a guest._

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**BPOV:**

Jasper sat still as a statue, his arms wrapped around me in a defensive manner. He had stopped breathing and his reaction was beginning to worry me.

"Jasper?" I asked as I turned around as best as I could with him holding me in his iron grip.

He just turned me around so that I was facing him and then tucked my head under his chin, never loosening his hold on me as a low warning growl started rumbling in his chest. Even in less than forty-eight hours, I was beginning to understand that Jasper's more primal instincts often took over. This seemed like one of those times; though what had set him off, I had no idea. Surely, if he lived like a normal human being, he'd have normal people calling on him sometimes? Why had a simple doorbell agitated him so much?

I stayed as still as I could and after a few minutes, his growling subsided though he never relinquished his grip on me. When he finally quieted down, I decided that it was safe enough for me to move. I pulled my hands out from where they had been crushed between our chests and threw them around his shoulders, playing with his curls at the nape of his neck. When he didn't seem to object, I thrust my hands into his honey locks and started scratching his scalp in what I hoped was a soothing motion. Quickly, he started purring, nuzzling my ear as his grip on me loosened fractionally.

Note to self, Jasper likes my hands in his hair.

We sat like that for a while, my hands roaming in his silken locks as his purring continued and his body gradually started easing from its tense position. But the peace didn't last. Next instant, his phone started buzzing on the side table and his purr instantly turned into a growl. He gently placed me on the bed and then turned in a way that blocked me from the phone. Now I was really confused. He was protecting me from a cell phone?

He picked up the phone, talking rapidly in a low voice that made it impossible for me to hear him, let alone decipher what he was saying. Things were getting weirder by the minute and I did not like it. He put the phone in the side table drawer, as though just the sight of the tiny thing somehow offended him greatly and again pulled me into his arms, nuzzling my neck, speaking in a voice to low for me to hear, though something told me that I wasn't meant to hear what he was saying, yet. So I did the only thing I could. I continued with my soothing touches, hoping he'd soon tell me what was going on.

Almost fifteen minutes later, he sighed and looked me in the eyes. His eyes were black, but I knew they were not so due to passion.

"Bella, we have a guest," he sighed.

_The doorbell_, I thought.

I nodded for him to continue.

"It's Carlisle, I had asked him to come over here so that he can explain in better detail the dynamics of our relationship to you, and to me as well, to a certain extent."

"That's _Carlisle_ out there? Carlisle as in your father, the head of the Cullen family?"

He nodded.

"Jasper!" I squeaked, "Get the door! You can't keep him waiting outside," I admonished him as I made to get out his arms.

He hissed and pulled me back.

"No!"

_Was he insane_?

"No? What is that supposed to mean? You don't want your father to come in and see you?"

He held me desperately, like a drowning man holding onto a life raft. His breathing grew rough and he looked like he was under a great deal of stress.

"Bella, I need you to do exactly as I ask you to. Please, don't fight me on this. It's already very difficult for me. Please darlin', will you do as I ask?"

I looked into his beseeching eyes and knew that he was very serious about what he was saying. What I couldn't understand for the life of me was why a visit from his father figure would make him so uncomfortable. He must have gauged my confusion and curiosity so he soothed my curiosity with a mysterious "Be patient, all will be revealed soon, darlin'."

Finally, he untangled our limbs and reached into his closet and was back within the blink of an eye. He dressed me in one of his shirts that covered me upto my knees and then helped me into a pair of his boxers.

This was not the attire I was hoping to wear when I met his father. I wanted to protest, tell him how completely inappropriate it was and how awkward it would make the entire situation, but I kept my mouth firmly shut. He'd asked me to do as he asked and I was going to do it, and was going to make sure I got some answers out of the entire situation as well.

I saw him pull on a pair of frayed jeans and forgo any shirt. He pulled me into his arms and then planted a firm kiss on my mouth.

"Don't leave my side," he warned. I nodded in acceptance and before I could resist, he hauled me into his arms and carried me downstairs. He sat on the couch, pulling me into his lap and took a deep breath.

"You can come in now," he spoke in a harsh tone that did nothing to hide his discomfort. The door opened slowly and in stepped one of the most beautiful creatures I had ever seen. He was tall, lean yet muscular with blonde hair and the wisest ochre eyes I had ever seen.

"Hello Jasper," he said softly as he stood just inside the door, not taking a single step further into the room.

I was once again hyper aware of what we looked like, Jasper was bare chest with me dressed in his clothes, perched upon his lap with his arms firmly around me. I squirmed in embarrassment as his eyes took us in, but Jasper's arms tightened even more around me and a terse "Carlisle," was all he could respond with.

"Hello Isabella," he said gently and I blushed as a growl built up in Jasper's chest.

"Hi," I squeaked out.

He just stood there, not moving, not blinking, just observing us.

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**CPOV:**

I enjoyed feeling the wind in my hair as I swiftly drove towards Seattle. I loved my Mercedes, but while it was on loan to Jasper, Rosalie's convertible was a great joy to drive, especially after the adjustments she had made to the engine. She had insisted I give it a test run after her latest session of tinkering around with it and while I may never admit it out loud, I loved that she would trust me with her beloved car. Not even Emmet was allowed to have the privilege of driving it.

While most humans found driving tedious, it was something that came very easily to us given our quick reflexes. Usaually, driving served to calm me down, but today I found my thoughts occupied by the drastic changes my family had been going through for the past several months. Alice and Jasper's break up had been a jarring experience for all of us and for a while I had thought our family would fall apart. I abhorred having to take sides when two or more of my family members were involved and yet, I couldn't help but empathize with Jasper. He had been deceived in the worst way possible and there was no way any of us could have condoned what Alice had done. But most disconcerting had been the fact that Alice could keep her intentions obscured from both Edward as well as Jasper's gift for well over half a century. Letting Jasper move to Seattle and take up this job on his own was one of the most difficult decisions our family had ever taken.

As a truck zoomed past on the opposite lane, I sighed. Maybe it was for the best that Alice and Jasper had never married. The last thing any of us wanted under the circumstances was to get entangled in the legal paper involved, had they ever married. We often wondered why they had never seen the need to get married; God knows Rosalie always enjoys throwing a huge bash in the name of a wedding every few years. However, now, their decision made sense. Rather, Alice's decision made sense. I was glad she had shown the decency leave the wedding vows for Jasper's true mate.

My phone buzzed and before looking at it, I knew who it would be. I pulled over the side of the road, simply out of habit of following rules.

"Edward," I said in greeting.

"Are you sure you don't want me to come along? I can be there in a while and I don't even need to be present, I'll be outside, just close enough to monitor his thoughts."

"No son, I know you worry, but your presence will place an added stress on Jasper and I don't want that. The last thing I want to happen is for Jasper to loose control and hurt Isabella," I explained. He made a frustrated noise in the back of his throat and I couldn't help but smile.

Edward had been my first companion in this life and our bond was that of a sire and his first-born. Even without his gift, Edward was an exceptional child. I often wondered whether his intensity and passion regarding each and every aspect of his life was a boon or a bane. Never during all my existence have I come across someone with such powerful feelings towards whatever he did; but what had me worried was that while he loved passionately, he loathed with equal ardor.

His self-loathing was something I had been unable to rid him of despite over a century worth of discussions in religion, spirituality and theology. He has been alone for over a century now, and Esme often worried if he was destined to be alone for all eternity. I feared that I had made a mistake in bringing him into this life. I did not need to be a mind reader or an empath to feel the loneliness pouring out of him, even in a houseful of seven vampires. He had struggled the most with what we were, more so in some ways compared to even Rosalie. And his gift put a terrible strain on him, emotionally as well as ethically.

Guilt consumed me, every time I saw Esme staring sadly as Edward played some morose, haunting tune on the piano.

Elizabeth Masens' face flashed in my mind, tired, frayed and ravaged by the disease that consumed her and yet, her emerald eyes had glowed with fervor.

"Save him," she had commanded.

I often wondered what superior power had given her that moment of lucidity, perception and strength just before she breathed her last. I had never thought to relegate her last words to the delusional ramblings of a dying woman. The clarity of her words, the strength of her hold on my cold arm and the fierce determination in her eyes told me she knew exactly what she was asking for.

I had done what she had asked for and till date, I have been unable to determine if what I had done was the right thing. Elizabeth's dying wish had once again flamed within my heart the desire to end my solitary existence. I had been contemplating taking on a companion for several years then, and took her words as some sort of divine sign guiding me towards the end of my lonely life. While I had never regretted changing Edward for companion, I often debated if changing him had been the best decision for him or not. That I had taken away something as precious as his humanity from him without giving him a choice was something I would always repent for.

Now that Jasper had found his mate, unique as their situation was, I held hope that sooner rather than later Edward would find his other half as well. It was Edward's voice that brought me out of my musing.

"I don't like it Carlisle, I know I shouldn't say this, but the truth is Jasper is emotionally unstable, especially since Alice…" he argued.

"You should learn to give Jasper more credit son," I gently reprimanded him. "You know much of his difficulties stem from the fact that he can feel everyone's emotions around him and unlike blocking your thoughts, blocking one's emotions is impossible."

"I'm sorry, Carlisle. I didn't want to imply that Jasper's weak, but… but it's this whole situation. I don't like it! I don't like it one bit. I've seen Emmet with Rose, I've seen how newly mated vampires behave and I sure as hell haven't forgotten how Emmet had ripped off my hand when I'd gotten too close to Rosalie."

I could hear Emmet's booming laughter in the background along with Rosalie's tinkling laughter.

"You deserved it Eddie boy, you should've kept your distance from my woman," he teased.

"Just because you'd decided to turn into a Neanderthal in heat, did not mean I had to get my hand ripped off. She'd only asked me to hand her the screw driver, Em." Edward complained.

"Edward, calm down. Everything will be fine and Alice has assured me that this little meeting will be successful with little to no bloodshed," I joked.

"Fine," came his defeated voice, "but just for the record, I know for certain that you have no idea what is waiting for you there. Despite all your efforts, you have little to no idea about how the mating dynamics shift when one of the pair is human. I just hope for Esme's sake that you manage to come back in one piece because there's no doubt about who'll win if there's a confrontation between the two of you."

"Edward Anthony Masen Cullen!" came Esme's sharp voice. "Don't you dare take that tone with your father, young man," she chastised.

"Yes mom," he sang like a child as we both dissolved into laughter. I cherished the sound of his laughter, it was a very rare sound.

"Don't worry, son. I'll give you a call later on to let you know how it goes."

I continued my journey towards Seattle and on to the outskirts of the UW campus towards out mansion secluded in the forest. I could feel anticipation and excitement bubble up inside me as I approached the house. I was about to witness an incredibly rare phenomenon and was curious to meet the human girl who had captured the heart of my hardened martial son.

I could hear the steady beat of Isabella's heart coming from Jasper's room as well as the sound of their breathing. But, soon I could hear Jasper's growls as well and was glad I had taken the whole day off from the hospital, this was bound to take a while. I parked the car and then swiftly ran back till I was out of hearing range. I waited for a few minutes and then called Jasper on his cell phone. I needed to make sure that he was up for the ordeal; I would not bode well for Isabella if Jasper made to attack me in her presence. He picked up on the third ring.

"I'm sorry, but I can't help it," he apologized immediately.

"That's ok son, I understand what you're going through. I've been through it myself. How are you feeling?"

"Over protective and incredibly jealous, despite my mind telling me that it's not required. I can't ever imagine you behaving in such a way," he added.

I laughed.

"While I may not have been as aggressive as you, I had my own moments of insecurities and jealousy. I know it's not a pleasant feeling and it can be very disconcerting in the beginning," I tried to assure him.

"You're damn right about that," he muttered. "What are we going to do? I can barely keep my head straight while talking to you on the phone, I can't imagine what I'll do when I actually see you."

In thinking of Jasper's discomfort, I realized that I had no idea of Isabella's reaction to the situation. If she was not prepared for such a confrontation, she could be extremely discomfited by our actions and may even go into shock.

"How did Isabella doing? Is she alright with your reactions?"

I could immediately discern the slight change in the tenor of his voice. There was a hint of pride, indulgence and utter adoration in his voice as he spoke of her.

"She's doing much better than can be expected, in fact, she was the one who helped me calm down in the first place. She's a bit confused, but that is to be expected. What do you suggest we do?" he asked a hint of desperation mixing in his voice.

"Jasper, if you're not comfortable doing this, we can postpone it. There is no point in forcing a discussion that is bound to end in you loosing control. Isabella's safety is paramount here," I said but his low growl informed me that that was the wrong thing to say.

"I would never hurt her," he whispered harshly.

"I was not suggesting that you will," I said calmly, "but do you wish for her to see you getting into a physical confrontation with me? Do you want her to witness something like that so soon? And what kind of effect will that have on her?"

"We need to do this today," he urged. "I feel like I am loosing control and Bella's getting more and more worried and confused. It's Monday tomorrow, both of us have classes and she won't agree to skip school, she's stubborn that way and I feel like I'll kill anyone who gets within a two-mile radius of her. We can't function like this," he complained, his agitation with the situation showing in his voice.

"Jasper, you need to understand that every vampire's mating instincts are different, there are no fixed rules about how you're going to behave. Yes, usually all newly mated vampires tend to become territorial and protective of their mates, but the intensity of their behavior and its duration varies. It may take from a few weeks to several decades before their defensive instincts die down and they start functioning normally."

The only response I got was his ragged breathing on the other end of the phone. So I continued.

"Given your reaction right now, I can understand it's very difficult for you but I have full faith in you, son. Alice told me how difficult it was for you to control yourself yesterday night when Isabella was working and I am very proud of the restraint you have." I ignored another one of his growls at the mention of the previous nights incident as I ploughed on.

"You waited for over three months before you claimed her as your mate, that speaks volumes about your self-control. I am sure that you'll be able to get through this conversation with Isabella. Be strong son, and keep Isabella close. She's the one who'll be able to anchor you if you start to loose control. She seems like an amazing young woman and I can't wait to meet her. Take your time and let me know when you're ready. I'll try to make this as easy as possible on the both of you."

"I call for you when we're ready," he said as he switched off the phone.

I moved towards the mansion so that I could hear when they were ready, glad that Jasper was controlling himself so well. When under extreme duress, Jasper could unconsciously project his feelings and since I couldn't discern any anxiety coming from the house, I was hopeful that things would go smoothly. My blackberry buzzed with a new message.

_It'll all be fine and you'll love her! _

Alice always knew when any of us needed reassurance. I smiled. It would take time, but the bitterness caused by her cheating would eventually melt away. She was just too sweet to resist.

"You can come in now," I heard Jasper call, the strain of the situation evident in his voice.

I stepped in and stood by the door, making my posture as unthreatening as I could and took in the scene in front of me.

Jasper sat with his chest bare with Isabella in his lap. I knew it was his clothes she was wearing and could tell she was uncomfortable with her attire as well as position on Jasper's lap. She was squirming in discomfort. Jasper had most certainly done his best to stake his claim on his mate. Her wearing his clothes on which his scent lingered was a very possessive move on his part and his bare chest was a warning to anyone who came close to him. While Bella couldn't see them, his scarred chest was a red flag to us vampires. It was a testimonial to his violent past and a proof of his prowess in combat.

"Hello Jasper," I said, acknowledging him first, showing deference to him on his territory.

He managed to respond, though a bit shortly. I was just glad he was keeping his control and was still seated. The chances of having a civil discussion were increasing by the minute. I decided it was time to test his control.

"Hello Isabella," I addressed the woman sitting in his lap.

Jasper's reaction was immediate, his growl reverberated through the high walls of the mansion and that Isabella did not jump, or show any outward sign of distress was amazing. Her cheeks did heat up in a beautiful blush though, probably at the impropriety of her position, but she managed a timid "hi" in my direction. The first interaction between Isabella and a new vampire had taken place and I waited to see Jasper's reaction. Even as I studied them, something told me that the delicate creature enfolded in my son's arms would be the one to hold together my crumbling family.

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**A/N:**** Ok, so I know most of you are about to kill me for delaying 'the conversation' but this chapter turned out to be unlike anything I had imagined it to be. I know this is a J/B fic, but being team Edward, I couldn't help but ramble a bit about him in Carlisle's perspective. I promise more of Jasper and Bella in the next chapter.**

**For those of you who don't know, I've started sending a teaser of the upcoming chapter to those of you who review, so let me know what you think. Feedback is much appreciated. **

**Hugs,**

**-KT.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Inception on a rainy night**

**Chapter 9**

**

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Disclaimer:** Twilight and its characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.

**

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A/N:** I need to make a clarification before beginning this chapter.

**It would take time, but the bitterness caused by her cheating would eventually melt away. She was just too sweet to resist.**

These words were used by Carlisle, in the last chapter, when thinking of Alice. Unfortunately, due to the use of the word 'cheating', few of you are under the impression that Alice committed adultery when in a relationship with Jasper.

This is not the case. Please know that the word cheating was used to imply that Alice was deceitful when she allowed Jasper to think that they were mates when she knew that they weren't. She also managed to keep the truth from Edward for several decades despite his mind reading skills.

The word was used to show that Alice cheated Jasper of the knowledge that Alice was not his mate and that he had yet to find his true mate.

Now, with that little speed breaker behind us, time to move on.

Lo and behold! Finally the much awaited conversation between Carlisle, Jasper and Bella. Enjoy!

**

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Previously**

"_Hello Isabella," I addressed the woman sitting in his lap._

Jasper's reaction was immediate, his growl reverberated through the high walls of the mansion and that Isabella did not jump, or show any outward sign of distress was amazing. Her cheeks did heat up in a beautiful blush though, probably at the impropriety of her position, but she managed a timid "hi" in my direction. The first interaction between Isabella and a new vampire had taken place and I waited to see Jasper's reaction. Even as I studied them, something told me that the delicate creature enfolded in my son's arms would be the one to hold together my crumbling family.

**

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CPOV:**

Isabella looked completely bewildered with Jasper's reaction to me and looked at both of us alternately, hoping to find the reason for Jasper's hostility. I wanted to relieve her of her apprehensions, but I knew addressing her directly would probably enrage Jasper all the more. So I just waited there, standing next to the door, hoping Jasper would calm down. And then I saw the most incredible thing. She turned slightly in Jasper's lap and started gently stroking his hair, soothing him with the repeated gentle motions. In just a few minutes, his growl turned into a purr as he buried his face in her neck. I continued to watch in fascination as the tiny girl relaxed my son from one of the tensest moments in his existence. Finally, Jasper gained control of his emotions and looked up, conveying his apology through his eyes.

An awkward silence ensued in the next few moments, where all of us were at a loss of words given that I myself had forgotten my purpose having seen their display moments ago.

"Won't you please sit down?" she asked hesitantly, still fidgeting in my son's lap. She was quite obviously unused to public displays of affection.

"No thank you, Isabella. I'm not quite sure Jasper would take very kindly to that." I smiled at her, hoping to reassure her while I knew my words would confuse her all the more.

"It's Bella, please. And I am sure Jasper wouldn't mind if you took a seat, would you Jasper?" she asked, raising an eyebrow challengingly at him.

I almost laughed out loud as I saw my son, over a century and a half old, one of the most feared members of the vampire world being bossed over by the frail woman. Jasper must have sensed my amusement since his lips twitched into a smile as he nodded to me. Without making any quick movements, I silently walked over to a chair farthest from the couch on which the two of them were seated. Jasper watched me warily and I knew he would attack with the slightest provocation.

"It's good to see you, son. I'm sorry that this is so difficult for you, though I promise to try and make this as painless for you as possible."

"I don't understand," Bella mumbled.

I was hoping that Jasper may have told at least something about vampire mating, but apparently he hadn't. This was going to be a complicated conversation. I decided to start with something that would put the both of them at ease.

"Bella, how did you and Jasper meet?"

Blood rushed to her cheeks as she lowered her gaze, biting her lower lip. Jasper purred rather indulgently, pressing kisses to her face which made her blush all the more.

"Jasper!" she admonished in a low tone, trying to pull away from him, but of course he wouldn't let go. I decided she needed a bit of help.

"Don't worry Bella, Jasper has already informed me about how you met. I just wanted to get your version of the events."

Though her blush continued to adorn her cheeks, this time she answered the question haltingly.

"Umm… actually he's my professor and he teaches us American History and… I know this is _wrong_ but…"

Her words were cut off when Jasper snarled. Obviously, he did not like her using the word 'wrong' in context of their relationship. However, this reaction from Jasper seemed to be the final straw because Bella stiffened and I felt her heart beat pick up.

"That does it!" she said, anger obvious in her tone. "Jasper, you tell me what's going in on right this instant. I'm sick of it. All you've been doing for almost an hour now is growling and snarling. I want to know what caused you to have such a fit and I want to know why you're treating your father like this. I've done everything you asked me to- I've stayed by your side and faced your father in your boxers! Now I want some explanations, fast!"

I froze in my seat, torn between worry and amusement as Bella continued to glare at Jasper, her breathing labored. Jasper to his credit remained silent though his breathing had also increased and once again I was amazed at the amount of control he could exercise when it came to Bella.

"Bella, please darlin', you have to understand this is difficult for me," he implored.

"Why? Why is this difficult for you? Make me understand," she begged him.

Jasper looked at me, wanting me to take over the conversation once again.

"Actually, that is the reason I am here, Bella. Jasper asked me to come here so that I can give details about some of the things that the two of you will experience now that you are mated."

"Mated? As in mates?" she asked, looking as though she'd just realized something.

Jasper had told us how Bella had already been aware of our true nature when he met her and that was something I was very curious to know about. How had a human, one as young as her managed to glean the truth of our existence so easily? I couldn't fathom the reaction of the Volturi if they found that the truth of our existence was becoming commonplace amongst the human population. Obviously, she was co-relating the word mating with some prior information and that surprised me once again since information on vampire mating was extremely rare.

"What do you know about vampire mating?" I asked her.

"Nothing, it was something Jasper mentioned yesterday and I asked him what he meant when he called me his 'mate', but he said we would discuss it later. The only thing I know about mates is the literal meaning, you know, couples and marriage and…sex," she whispered, the blush rising in her face again. I wondered if this conversation would stain her cheeks permanently pink, though it was quite becoming on her.

"Well, yes Bella, the literal meaning certainly holds true, though there is a lot more to vampire mating than just that. Firstly, what you need to know is that the word mate is used not just in the sexual connotation, but the spiritual one as well."

"You mean soul mates?" she caught up quickly, though she looked thoroughly unconvinced. She cocked her head to the side, as if assessing my sanity.

"You're trying to tell me that vampires believe in soul mates, and that I am Jasper's soul mate?" she asked, her incredulity obvious in the tone of her voice. I knew that disbelief was something she needed to go through before she could grasp the extent of seriousness of the issue, so I just nodded. I'm sure she wanted to laugh, but it seemed to come out as a very un-lady like snort.

"Dr. Cullen, you can't really expect me to believe that," she protested.

"I don't just believe in it, Bella, I've personally lived through it and that's the answer to your previous question. The reason Jasper's behaving like this is because you're his mate," I told her waiting for the explosion, and she didn't disappoint me.

"That's ridiculous!" she commented as she tried to shove off Jasper. She couldn't have made a worse move.

Jasper stiffened and continued to hold a struggling Bella in his arms while looking mutinous. I wanted to intervene but knew if I did so, I'd end up losing a few limbs.

"Jasper, let me go!" she cried, wincing from the strength of his grip on her midriff. This was very rapidly getting out of control and I was afraid Jasper might break her ribs if she continued to struggle. Bella seemed to have a momentary lapse in intuition as she continued to try and get out of his grip. Jasper finally lost control and roared at her in the most terrifying way I had ever seen.

I did not need to be an empath to feel Bella's fear as her eyes widened and the rush of adrenaline made her smell all the more alluring. Instead of the ensuing scream, I saw Bella slump in his arms completely as tears made their way down her cheeks. This seemed to have the desired effect on Jasper as he almost instantly went from looking like an feral panther to a puppy standing outside in the rain. He quickly loosened his grip on her and cradled her to his chest, rocking her like a child and muttering 'sorry' over and over again. The transformation of the scene from violent to calm happened so quickly; it gave me a whiplash. I could only imagine how the two of them felt.

To my relief, Bella put her arms around his neck and clung to Jasper in return. I had been afraid that Jasper's loss of control might scare Bella forever. Apparently, Bella was made of sterner stuff than that.

After a good twenty minutes of rocking and apologizing, Jasper looked at her again.

"Did I hurt you Darlin'?" he asked.

She shook her head. "I think I'm bruised, but I don't think anything is broken," she whispered.

"Carlisle, could you have a look at her?"

"I don't think that's a very good idea. You won't be able to stand me being close to her."

"I'll control myself, I promise. Just please make sure it isn't bad," he begged.

"I feel fine, you don't have to do it if it upsets you," Bella protested.

That Bella would equate Jasper's mating instincts to being 'upset' was the understatement of the century. I stood up and Jasper's chest rumbled in warning, but he controlled himself and nodded at me to continue. I had taken precisely three baby steps forward before I found myself being rammed into the opposite wall, with Jasper's very sharp teeth millimeters from my unused jugular.

I knew talking would do no good in this situation, so fighting my own instincts to defend myself; I kept my hands at my sides making no offensive moves. Jasper continued to move closer to my neck, only to pull away with a jerk, again and again as he battled with his instincts. Finally, it was Bella's whimper of fear that made the decision for him as he swiftly moved back to her, holding her as she did what she could to calm him down. I stood there near the wall, the crumbled plaster adorning the floor.

"Carlisle, I'm so sorry…" he apologized for the millionth time that day and I waved it away. Jasper didn't know, but Emmet had been much worse. I proceeded to guide him through the motions of checking Bella's ribs, since he was not going to let me get anywhere near her. The look on his face was of utter devastation as he took in the sight of the large bruises marring her flesh. After the exam, I had him get Bella a glass of water. There was no pointing her getting dehydrated. When I was told that Bella had not had her breakfast, I insisted she eat first. After finishing milk and cookies, she looked at me with a seriousness that had not been there before.

"You really meant everything that you said, didn't you?"

I sighed. This was a lot for any one to take in, let alone some one as young as her.

"Yes Bella, I meant each and every word; this not a prank or some elaborate hoax. This a matter of great seriousness."

"What does it all mean?" she whispered.

It was the most difficult question anyone had asked me. How do you explain something as intimate and complex as mating to someone who doesn't experience it? For the rest of us, no explanations were needed since both partners felt the same mating pull with almost equal intensity. With Jasper and Bella however, it was only Jasper that felt the pull.

I decided instead of giving her answers that would be difficult for her to believe, she needed to find the answers to the questions with in herself.

"Tell me Bella, why are you with Jasper?"

"What is that supposed to mean?" she asked, a bit miffed.

"Well, firstly, he's your professor and a relationship between a professor and student is not only unconventional but forbidden as well." I saw Jasper stiffen and direct a hateful glance in my direction as I brought up the student teacher relationship, but I knew this was the only way to make her see the truth.

"I'm sure you do not expect any… benefits from him while being in a relationship with him," I pointed out and this time the redness in her face was not from embarrassment but anger.

"How…how dare you! How dare you suggest I would do something so… so…" she became incomprehensible in her anger and Jasper stated snarling a me again.

"Calm down, the both of you. Bella I'm not accusing you of having a relationship with your professor for better grades. What I'm trying to point out is, could you ever imagine yourself in a relationship with any other professor?"

Mutely, she shook her head.

"You are young and bright. You could choose any companion you want, you certainly don't lack any options. Yet, here you are with a man who is your professor, risking your education and reputation. You seem like a girl with above average intelligence, tell me, why would you risk all that for some, pardon my language, _fling _with your professor?"

Bella sat there, looking shell shocked as though she had never seen things from that perspective and I knew I was finally making some breakthrough.

"More importantly, you know what he is. The two of you don't even belong to the same species. You know very well that he thirsts for your blood, that he can easily loose control and drain you dry," I pointed out and Jasper's growls were gaining a higher pitch as he started shaking with the effort to keep his control.

"We're supernatural creatures Bella, we're vampires. We're natural predators and humans are our prey. Your relationship with Jasper, as nature intended it, should be of the hunter and the hunted and yet, here you sit in his arms, cool as a cucumber. Why do you not fear him?"

"You've seen him get angry, you've seen his strength and speed. You know how lethal he is. He's roared at you, dominated you, hurt you and yet here you are. So tell me Bella, why is that?

She looked at me, her eyes full of a dazed expression as she whispered, "because I'm his mate."

I smiled. Half of my work was done.

**

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BPOV:**

I sat stunned as my own words rang in my ears over and over again.

_I'm his mate. I'm his mate. I'm his mate._

The feeling was surreal. Everything suddenly seemed to make sense. I started recounting all the unexplained instincts I had been having ever since I had seen Jasper. The uncontrollable attraction towards him, despite him being a professor had initially surprised me as I had always been a very level headed person. The decision of not exposing his secret once I realized what he was, even to Jake had been taken unconsciously. Since the first moment I had set my eyes on him in class to Friday night when I had slipped into his car, I had been waiting, what for, I hadn't known. Now I understood why it was so easy for me to ignore the part of my brain that kept sending up red flags, asking me to run. Now I knew why that first night, I had turned into a wonton on his bed despite knowing he was my professor and a vampire.

My mind soon became flooded with broken images of the two of us in the basement of the bar last night. I had so very easily accepted his possession, his dominance and his complete control of my being. It had been so easy to forgive him for his rough treatment of my person, I had been more worried about him being mad at me instead. Just a few moments ago, when he had roared at me and bruised me, instead of being angry at his rough treatment of me, I had cried at seeing him so upset with me.

Would it always be like this between us, so complex, so intense, and so overwhelming?

"Bella?" Jasper's voice broke me out of my meditation.

As I turned to look at him, I saw worry and, could it be possible, fear on his face.

"What are you thinking so intently, darlin'?"

I shook my head. I was still in no way fit to carry out a rational conversation. I mentally grunted at this thought. I was sitting with two vampires, discussing my being the soul mate of one of them, there wasn't a shred of rationality in the entire situation. Suddenly, the sheer implausibility of the circumstances hit me hard and a desperate giggle left my unwilling lips. It sounded foreign to my own ears, a little off and bordering on hysteria.

"Bella, I know this can be overwhelming, but you need to calm down," Carlisle tried to pacify me, looking a bit wary.

I couldn't respond to him. I needed space, I needed time, I need _sanity._

"Jasper let go of me. I need to leave."

**

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A/N:** Please don't kill me. The chapter was becoming much too lengthy and I needed to break it off at some point. So, how do you think 'the conversation' has gone so far? What do you think of Jasper's animal instincts? And what do you make of Bella's reaction?

If you let me get into your head, I'll let you get into mine!

Leave me a review and I'll let you have a peek at 'the conversation' part 2!

Also, I am now a member at Twiwrite(dot)net which is a all things twilight fan fiction site. I'm known there as KT8812.

Check out the thread of 'Inception on a Rainy Night' at their forums for discussions, suggestions and teasers of coming chapters of IOARN. You can find the link on my profile.

Lastly, I have nothing against anonymous reviews, but it just makes things difficult when I try to respond to them. It's much easier for me to communicate with my readers when they leave signed review, so I apologize in advance if I forget to respond to any anonymous review. Let it be known that even the anonymous reviews are read and much appreciated.

Hugs,

~KT.

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nanal89: Thank you for the kind words. I'm glad you enjoy the story and thank you for putting up the part on Edward. Trust me, it'll make sense in the distant future.

ninny1954hotmail: Thank you for the review, I really appreciate it. I try to update as often as I can, unfortunately, at the moment I own neither a computer nor a reliable Internet connection so getting out chapters frequently is not possible. But I try my very best to do so.


	10. Chapter 10

**Inception on a Rainy Night by KT8812**

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**Disclaimer:** All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

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**A/N:** Many thanks to _**BookwormBaby2580**_ for pre-reading this chapter. The credit for this chapter goes to her and her nit-picking skills!

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**Chapter 10:**

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**Previously:**

_I shook my head. I was still in no way fit to carry out a rational conversation. I mentally grunted at this thought. I was sitting with two vampires, discussing my being the soul mate of one of them, there wasn't a shred of rationality in the entire situation. Suddenly, the sheer implausibility of the circumstances hit me hard and a desperate giggle left my unwilling lips. It sounded foreign to my own ears, a little off and bordering on hysteria._

_"Bella, I know this can be overwhelming, but you need to calm down," Carlisle tried to pacify me, looking a bit wary._

_I couldn't respond to him. I needed space, I needed time, I needed__sanity._

_"Jasper let go of me. I need to leave."_

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**BPOV:**

Contrary to my request, Jasper's arms tightened on my already bruised middle. I was in no condition to tolerate another one of his raging fits and I knew I couldn't physically over power him. I did the only thing I could. I pushed all my emotions towards him, hoping he would understand my bewilderment and my need to calm down. I slumped and let loose the tornado of emotions brewing within me, all of it. The confusion, the doubt, the fear, the hysteria, the pain and most of all the complete and utter exhaustion.

"Bella, please darlin', let me make it better," he begged and my chest ached with his entreaty, but I couldn't bring myself to give in.

"I need to go Jasper, please let me go."

"I can't," his voice cracked, " Don't you understand Bella, I _can't_ let you go."

I decided to give it my last shot.

"If you really expect me to believe that you care for me as much as you say you do, you'll let me go," I demanded.

Slowly, so slowly his arms loosened around me. He was letting me go. So why did it feel like my heart was shattering in my chest?

"Go," came his tortured voice and I knew if I looked at him, I'd never be able to leave. I willed my body to move, stiff from having been in the same position for so long and walked towards the door while keeping my head bowed. With every step I took, I felt myself die a little inside and yet I couldn't surrender myself to the foreign feelings he evoked in me. Before I could ever commit to him, I needed to know myself.

I walked unseeing; letting the gravel beneath my bare feet guide me as it abraded the soles of my feet. Nothing mattered, not my bare feet, or my dress or rather my state of undress or the increasing cold due to the waning sun. The cold was welcome, the numbness a relief.

The sound of an approaching vehicle registered in my clouded mind, the squealing sound of brakes, then footsteps.

Carlisle.

Warmth surrounded me in the form of a long woolen overcoat, gentle but insistent hands tugging me towards the car, a warn gust of air from the heater running in the car and the thawing of my person. Silently, he pulled my pair of sneakers from the floor of the back seat and maneuvered my frozen feet in to a pair of thick woolen socks that I knew I didn't own. Bending at an awkward angle, he then eased my feet into the shoes and silently drove us into the gray twilight.

The silence was soothing, the blur of greenery in the windows calming and the sound of our combined breathing reassuring.

"I'm, hungry," the words came without warning or conscious effort, only for me to realize that they were true.

A gentle tilt of the head was the only acknowledgement to my statement, but soon enough we were pulling up at a diner. As I walked into the eatery, I once again became acutely aware of the fact that beneath the concealing overcoat, I was still dressed only in my professor's shirt and underwear but the over powering aroma of food drove all thoughts from my mind.

We swiftly sat down at a table and I anxiously waited for someone to come and pick up our order. Of course, given my luck, our waitress was blonde, busty and very obviously flirting with Carlisle who was desperately trying to direct her attention towards me.

"I want a double cheese burger, fries and a double pineapple juice," I said in a loud voice interrupting her flirting.

"Humph, and what can I get you honey?" she asked Carlisle.

"Nothing me for me, thank you. We've already had dinner, but my wife is at a phase where she has very strong cravings and I could never deny her and our little one anything," he said in succulent tones.

I couldn't help the smirk on my face when I saw her visibly pale and walk away quickly. When I turned to Carlisle, he had the most bashful look on his face and something told me that had he been human, he would have been blushing.

"I apologize for insinuating something like that without your prior permission, Bella, but I thought that you could do very well without that woman's incessant nagging. I'm sorry if I have offended you in any way," he said with a bowed head and I wondered how old he truly was. And I asked him just that.

"How old are you? The way you talk, you sound like you're from the seventeenth century," I said and I could have sworn that sometimes just a hint of an English accent leaked into his words.

"Didn't anyone teach you Miss. Swan that it was indecent to inquire about another's age?" he asked, a hint of mischief sparking in his amber eyes.

I was about to retort back when I wondered if he truly was offended by my question given that he obviously was much older than he looked. Were vampires insecure of their age despite their eternally young looks?

He must have caught the drift of my thoughts because the next instant he was reassuring me.

"It was just a joke Bella. I am not offended. It seems to be mere curiosity on your part," he said and it looked like he was about to continue with his sentence when the waitress came back with my food. She practically banged the glass of juice on the table and then turned to Carlisle again.

"Are you sure nothing interests you here? I'm sure there's something you'd want," she purred suggestively with a very blatant lip lick and Carlisle's eyes hardened. Apparently she'd decided that she wasn't above throwing herself at a much-married man with a child on the way. I dug into my food and settled in to watch the show.

"I'm fine, thank you Miss. I'll let you know if my wife needs something," he said, very pointedly dismissing her.

"I'm sorry," he apologized again.

"You've nothing to be sorry about. It's kind of funny watching them throw themselves at you. I wonder what they would do if they really found out what you are," I added thoughtlessly and then froze wondering if I had finally crossed the line and insulted him. To my surprise, he chuckled.

"I often wonder the same thing, Bella. Our good looks and charm are in fact a part of our predatory nature; they make it very easy for us to lure our prey away. It is disheartening to see how people so gladly give into mere superficial beauty, ignoring the truth that stares them in the face." As he said this, a dark cloud seemed to pass over his face, but he quickly recovered.

"So, you wanted to know about my age did you?" when I simply nodded he resumed his talk as I continued stuffing my face.

"I was born at some point during the sixteen hundreds, probably between 1630 and 1640, though I cannot be sure since births during those time were not precisely recorded and I lost most of my human memories during my transformation."

I looked at him, aghast at what I was hearing. I knew Jasper had told me that there were certain vampires over several millennia old in the world, but sitting in front of a three and a half century old vampire was scary, humbling and downright weird at the same time.

"What about Jasper? How old is he?" I asked, my brain seemingly disconnecting from my tongue once again. It was strange that I had never asked him this question myself.

Carlisle's demeanor changed instantly. He went from looking like an indulgent grandfather telling a story to looking like your father when he says that you will be told the secret when you're old enough to understand.

"Jasper's story is his own to tell, Bella. But I can tell you that he's over a century and a half old." As he said the words, he carefully studied my face, trying to gauge my reaction. I tried to think of Jasper as a very old wrinkled man with a toothless grin but I couldn't do it. I couldn't imagine him looking as anything other than what he looked like now. I tried to wrap my mind around the fact that he had over a century and a half worth of experience more than me and not for the first time I wondered what he was doing with someone like me. But suddenly, my mind visited a memory of Jasper and one of his lectures on the American Civil war.

"He lived through the Civil war didn't he?" I asked.

Carlisle didn't answer but nodded, indicating that this was not a topic he was willing to talk about.

I had finished my food by that point and Carlisle signaled the waitress to bring the bill. I instinctively reached into my pocket, realizing due to the absence of a pocket in its usual place that I wasn't even in my own clothes. Carlisle took one look at the bill and whipped out some money and placed it on the table. As we left, I saw that he had left the bill on the table along with the money. The ten-digit number scribbled untidily on the bill might have had something to do with it. This time I laughed out loud, though Carlisle pretended not to hear it.

As we got into the car, I noticed for the first time that it was Jasper's Mercedes that was on loan to him for Carlisle. This observation set off an unexpected twinge in my heart. As we pulled away from the diner, Carlisle turned to me and asked, "Where to?"

I should have asked him to drop me off at my apartment, but I was not yet prepared to be alone So instead I asked him if we could just drive around for a while. He very readily agreed and we once again settled into the comfortable silence, only now it started becoming oppressive. The events of the day and the new information started weighing on my mind and try as I might, I couldn't avoid thinking of it for much longer. I had so many questions I wanted to ask him, but I settled for the most important one.

"Why me, Carlisle? And why now?" I asked knowing he would understand what I was talking about.

"Your second question is much easier to answer than the first. He's bonded now because you're here and this is when he met you. Trust me, had he seen you five years earlier or five years later than today, he'd still be bonded to you."

"But why me? I'm plain, ordinary. In over a century and half, he couldn't find anyone better than me? I find that difficult to believe," I argued.

He sighed and then gently parked the car next to the curb, making sure that the area was not a no parking zone. He then turned to me, his eyes earnest, begging me to understand what he was saying.

"Bella, what you and Jasper have cannot be equated with any normal human relationship. The pull he feels towards you is permanent, eternal. You are the one and only for him, he will never want for another in all his existence."

I remembered Jasper's words from before Carlisle had arrived.

_**This thing between us is stronger than the strongest bond you can think of. You are what is air to a human being and blood to a vampire. I need you in order to survive, to exist. You are my life now, the sole purpose of my existence. What we have is eternal and everlasting, my Bella. It is forever**__**.**_

"He said something similar to me before you came to visit. He said what we had was eternal, that it was forever. I didn't think he was serious, that he meant it quite literally. I though it was just something very sweet he said in the heat of the moment," I admitted.

"That is where you are wrong Bella, because in the vampire world, forever quite literally means forever. Trust me when I say that Jasper was not exaggerating anything, he was simply stating the truth."

"But it's that truth which worries me! Carlisle, I don't want Jasper to be with me because he has no choice in the matter! I don't want him to want me because some mystic power compels him to be with me." My words would not make sense to anyone else, even in my head my thoughts were running together, but I couldn't slow down, my brain was on overload, trying to find a logical reason behind what was happening to me, only now I was worried that there may never be a logical solution to the situation I found myself in.

"How do I know that what I feel for Jasper is real and not because of the mating bond?"

Carlisle, who was being very patient with me, seemed to be deriving some twisted kind of pleasure from my questions and confusion since a wide grin stretched across his face.

"What you feel for Jasper is most certainly because of the mating bond, Bella. There has never been any ambiguity regarding that," he said calmly while I gaped at him.

"So you're saying that… that…"

"Bella, listen to me," he said, suddenly turning serious. What was it with the rapid mood changes with the Cullen men? "Just because what you feel for Jasper is due to the bond, does not make it any less real. If we'd never had this conversation, if you hadn't discovered that you were Jasper's mate, bound to him, would you have ever doubted your feelings for him?"

My head was spinning back to the realization I had when Jasper had me tied up in the bar's basement the previous night. _I loved him_. In that moment, I had been so sure that I had loved him; I never would have thought that I would be doubting the very same feelings before a day had passed. Yes, I loved him, still did, but what about the reason behind that love? I asked Carlisle about it and again there was that thrice-damned smile of his.

"The heart does things for reasons that reason cannot understand, Bella. You cannot look for a definitive logical reasoning for love; it's not an equation to be solved. If one could make a list of the reasons for which one fell in love, I'd doubt it was true love."

I knew he was old enough to be my great, great, great grandfather, but on hearing his words, I felt even more young and naïve. He stopped the car and I realized that we were now at the fork in the road that would lead to the Cullen mansion hidden in the forest. I hadn't realized when he had started driving again and brought us here.

"I saw how you reacted when I told you that you and Jasper were soul mates, but it is a term quite popularly used by humans, so why did it bother you so much? I thought any young girl would be happy when told that her current beau is her soul mate."

"I guess, I never believed in the concept of soul mates," I sighed. He gave me an inquiring look and I decided he needed to know a bit of my history. "My parents divorced when I was less than one year old, my mother got custody though I'd visit my dad from time to time. I never thought that soul mates could be real because I never saw a relationship like that, it never worked out for my parents and while Renee is happy with Phil, their relationship is comfortable, it doesn't have the kind of depth or intensity you'd associate with soul mates, and it took her the better part of fifteen years to find him. My father is still single, though he's recently started dating. For me, the concept of soul mates was really something created by the movies to sell romance."

Now that I had put my thoughts into words, they sounded so bitter. I had always thought that I had coped with Charlie and Renee's separation very well, but now I know I still had some residual resentment directed towards them for it.

"I am sorry about your parents separation Bella, but soul mates is not a concept which holds true only in the vampire world, it is true even for humans, though it is even rarer in case of humans. Vampires, with their keen senses and heightened emotions are far more likely to find their mates than humans, though they often the have go centuries before they find their other half. Also, mostly it is impossible for a vampire to detect their mate if he or she is still in human form, so many of them never get to be with their mates because their mates live an ordinary human life and pass away without either of them being aware of the bond."

"So how did Jasper know that I'm his mate?"

"There is no conclusive evidence on the phenomenon of vampire mating, even less so about vampire human mating, but it is believed that if a vampire is sensitive enough, he'll feel a certain, shall we say, _affinity_ towards the human that is his soul mate. That affection might be entirely platonic, or even fraternal because the true nature of the bond is only revealed when both the partners are vampires. The reason most vampires never find their mates is because they tend to give into their inner animal, their basest instincts, living like an animal and resembling humans only in their appearance. In such a situation, they are entirely closed off to the emotions that might lead them to their human mates. However, when both the partners are vampires, the attraction is immediate and there is no stopping the mating bond once they sense each other. In a very crude attempt at explanation, it could be said that the feelings of vampires, their emotions and bonds belong to a certain frequency, which barely coincides with the frequency at which the humans feel their emotions and it is due to this disparity that vampire human mating is virtually unheard of."

"So the reason it took Jasper so much time to claim me as his mate is because I am human and not vampire?"

"Yes, he held back for an impossibly long time for a vampire mainly because of two reasons. In what seems to be a very similar reaction to yours, he found it impossible to believe he had actually found a mate in a human. He couldn't deny his very strong attraction to you but couldn't bring himself to acknowledge that you truly were his mate. The second and most obvious reason was your fragility; he feared he would lose control if he allowed himself to get too close to you."

"So if I had been a vampire…"

He smirked; it was something I expected from Jasper, not Carlisle. It was a tad disconcerting.

"If you had been a vampire when Jasper first saw you, believe me when I say that he would have claimed you then and there without a care in the world about who was watching."

"But you still haven't told me how Jasper could feel that I was his mate when I am still human," I persisted.

"I cannot say for sure, but I do have my own theory. First and foremost is the fact that Jasper is an empath, so he is even more sensitive than normal vampires to emotional ties. It's obvious this had a lot to do with the fact that I received a frantic, almost incoherent phone call from him after is first class as your professor of American history." He chuckled quietly, probably remembering that particular conversation.

"I also think our so called vegetarian life-style has a lot to do with the phenomenon. Unlike most vampires, who are nomads, governed by their animal instincts, we possess a much better control of our senses**. **Hence, we are a lot more sensitive to human emotions**. **And that we live amongst humans and have more human interaction than any other known coven only exacerbates our responses to them. These are the two major reasons why Jasper responded to the bond while you are still human."

I mulled over everything he had told me and despite my doubts, I wanted to explore this relationship with Jasper. I had very strong feelings for him, and while the truth that these feelings were due to my being his mate disturbed me, I couldn't bring myself to deny my own feelings. Carlisle was right, the mating bond might be the cause of my feelings for him, but that did not diminish the depth of my feelings for him. I truly loved him and if Carlisle's words held any truth, he had no choice but to love me as well. Looking at it in a different perspective, it kind of looked perfect. He loves me, I love him, forever. Perfect.

_A bit too perfect, _a voice piped up inside me.

"Can we go back to the mansion, please? I think Jasper and I need to have a very long talk. And given his reaction to you this morning, I know there are a lot of hurdles in our path. I'm sorry we've taken up so much time of yours but I'd really appreciate it if you could stay for a while longer and help us smooth out things a bit more."

Yes, I was immensely grateful to Carlisle. He'd helped me sort out my jumbled emotions and while I was nowhere close to a crystal clear picture of what lay ahead of us, at least I had now accepted our bond and was prepared to learn how to cope with it. I felt a burst of gratitude towards the elegant man sitting next to me and understood why he was the head of the Cullen family. There couldn't possibly have been a better candidate.

"Thank you, Carlisle," I whispered. It was nowhere close to what I wanted to say, but I hoped he would catch the underlying emotion, and he did not disappoint.

"Please don't mention it, my child. It gives me great joy to see you with Jasper. I know he's a bit volatile right now, but you most certainly do bring out the best in him, never doubt that. And as for my time, well, that is one thing I have in abundance, don't I?" he teased as he drove us towards the house.

As we got closer to the massive building however, a weight seemed to settle on my chest, a hot, heavy feeling which got worse the more rapidly we approached the house. Suddenly, Carlisle stopped the car, his breathing labored and I saw that his previously golden eyes were now pitch black.

"He's projecting," he whispered.

Carlisle turned towards me with panicked eyes, something I had not seen even when Jasper was an inch away from beheading him. His cell phone started to ring and he looked at it as a dying man might look at his salvation.

"What do you see? What should we do? How come you didn't see this earlier?" he questioned whoever was at the other end at a rapid fire pace. He weight in my chest was impossible to ignore, it felt like a two-ton stone had been dropped onto my heart.

"I can't do that!" he cried. "I can't put her at risk like that, we don't even know if she will be able to stand the pain," he argued and though I couldn't hear what the other person, was saying, I did have a very good idea about what was being suggested.

"I need to go him, Carlisle. I caused him this grief, it's my fault," I whispered as I stepped out of the car and started walking towards the monolithic structure looming in front of us.

"Bella, please. You don't have any idea about how powerful Jasper is," he urged, his eyes wild. "You may not be able to stand the amount of pain he is projecting, he's making it difficult for me and I am a vampire! I have no idea how this could affect you, it may even cause physical damage to you. Please, rethink your decision. Let him calm down on his own, you can then talk it out with him."

I looked point blank in his eyes and asked a question, the answer to which I already knew.

"If it was your mate hurting like that, would you wait outside for her to calm down?"

He lowered his face, knowing he couldn't lie about something like that to my face and nodded in silent assent.

As we both reached the foyer, he collapsed onto the floor, curling in on himself. The weight on my heart had now turned into a steel vice, squeezing the life out of my chest, no wonder with his vampiric sensitivity Carlisle couldn't take it any more. The need to reduce the pain was too much; I wanted to turn around and run away, away from the pain that was like a stab to my heart, fire in my veins and a blow to my mind. The only thing that forced me to continue was the fact that all this pain was originating from Jasper. It was _his _pain. It was the pain I had caused him.

As I entered the living room, hunched in on myself, I heard the crunch of glass beneath my feet. The room was dark but I managed to fumble around and find the light switch. The scene that met my eyes made me forget the pain for a second as dread coiled in my stomach. The room in front of me was foreign. In no way did it resemble the room I had left behind a few hours ago.

Every breakable thing lay shattered on the floor, pieces of glass and ceramic covering it. Furniture lay splintered, upturned and in some cases pulverized to saw dust in some places. The ornate chandelier which adorned the high ceiling lay twisted at an awkward angle in one corner, a thing of art and beauty cruelly relegated to a piece of useless scrap. Perfect, circular holes were punched into the various walls of the room, making it look like Swiss cheese. Even in my crushing agony, I was grateful that the entire structure was still standing.

I had reached my pain threshold, I knees threatening to give out. I needed to find jasper and as I looked around for him desperately I saw a figure curled up into a ball, lying motionless at the end of the staircase. I made my way towards him and felt the pain increase beyond my imagination as searing bolts of agony jolted my body.

I dropped next to him, ignoring the little pieces of debris that dug into my flesh. It was nothing compared to the pain, _his pain. _I curled my body around his, hoping he'd realize my presence but he remained unmoved. My heart was about to explode**. **I needed to talk to him, apologize to him for doubting him, us**. **I needed to tell him that I loved him, but my tongue wouldn't work, my mouth felt like it was full of cotton.

As the darkness closed in, I had only one prominent thought.

_I love you._

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**A/N:** This chapter was quite a tough one for me, so I hope you enjoyed it. I'd love to know what you expect to find in the upcoming chapters. Reviews, suggestions and new ideas are always welcome!

**Important:** I've been selected to join the R&D division of a Pharma company in a metro city, hence I'll be busy for the next few months, moving and getting into daily routine there. I might not be able to update for 8-10 weeks. I'll try to update another chapter in the next week before I move, but after that, it might be a while before I am able to update so please bear with me.

I promise to complete this story though it may take a bit longer than anticipated.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas in advance, just in case if I am unable to get a chapter out on Christmas day.

Hugs,

-KT.

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**Nanal89:** Yes, I thought it would make sense if Carlisle forced Bella to admit her attachment to jasper herself. Bella certainly wasn't smart about the comment she made, but she wasn't exactly thinking straight at that point of time. Things will get better, I promise!

**Ninny1954hotmail**: I'm glad you're enjoying the story. The outcome of Carlisle's visit is gradually unfolding. The grand finale of the 'conversation' is coming up in the next chapter.


	11. Chapter 11

**Inception on a Rainy Night by KT8812**

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_**Disclaimer: **All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended._

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**A/N:** This chapter is dedicated to _**BookwormBaby2580**_ who has very graciously accepted to be my Beta. The credit for the improvement in my writing goes to her!

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**Previously:**

_I dropped next to him, ignoring the little pieces of debris that dug into my flesh. It was nothing compared to the pain, his pain. I curled my body around his, hoping he'd realize my presence but he remained unmoved. My heart was about to explode**.**I needed to talk to him, apologize to him for doubting him, us**.**I needed to tell him that I loved him, but my tongue wouldn't work, my mouth felt like it was full of cotton._

_As the darkness closed in, I had only one prominent thought._

_I love you._

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**Chapter 11:**

**JPOV**_**:**_

_**If you really expect me to believe that you care for me as much as you say you do, you'll let me go.**_

Her words echoed over and over in my mind, rising to a deafening crescendo till I could hear nothing else and feel nothing other than the pain they brought. She didn't want me. She wanted to run away from me. My mate had left me.

I let loose a scream of pain that reverberated along the ancient walls of the house and yet it did nothing to assuage the pain burning in my chest. I would have chosen to undergo the pain from the transformation again rather than suffer this agony.

All I felt was pain and rage. I wanted to tear down buildings and burn the trees to the ground. I wanted to kill anyone who came in my path and bathe in their blood. For the first time in years I felt my bloodlust spiral out of control. I needed something to fill the gaping wound Bella left in my chest and blood seemed to be the answer. My heart had been broken and all I wanted to do was burn and tear, destroy and desecrate, mutilate and eviscerate.

But I couldn't.

Even in her absence I couldn't rid myself of hope. Hope, that somehow she would come back to me. I would do whatever it took to bring her back to me, to keep her with me for all eternity.

I was among the strongest creatures on the planet, yet the stone walls of the mansion held me captive. I couldn't leave, not when there was a chance that Bella might come back, but the pain, the fury was too much. It needed to be unleashed but there is nowhere for me to go. I let loose my wrath on the house that surrounded me, not caring what Esme would say when she found her precious house in ruins.

I punched the walls, tore down the fancy chandelier and pulverized the furniture till there was nothing left to demolish. I ran up the stairs, wanting to continue my mad frenzy but stopped short in front of my room. Not my room, our room. It was the room where I first claimed my Bella. I walked over to the bed and it was still saturated will her smell. More importantly, it held the smell of our passion, our love. The sheets were creased and wrinkled and they reminded me of each move my Bella made.

The room held too many memories. Had it just been two days since I first brought my Bella here? No, this room was too special, too sacred for me to destroy. I turned and walked out of the room and down the stairs. I surveyed the devastation I had caused and thought that the scene in front of me very well epitomized the condition of my dead heart.

I crumbled to the floor there, waiting for my Bella. Only she could put me out of my misery and I'd wait an eternity for her if I had to. I let my pain flow out of me and surround me like a blanket. I lost track of time as my mind slipped into a limbo with only Bella's memories to keep me company.

"I love you", she said, her voice just a whisper. Warmth poured into my soul at her words and it was a balm to my burnt heart. Through the haze of pain, I wondered if I had actually heard her say those words or if my mind was playing games with me. But slowly, the ache reduced, my muscles thawed and I drew in a ragged breath.

Ah sweet heavens! The smell was like manna from heaven. It enveloped me, teasing and tantalizing me, making me crave it in a way I had never wanted anything else. I regained my senses to find something warm curled up behind me, something soft and warm, its lifeblood pulsing and throbbing, enticing me.

The thirst flared in my throat like an inferno, blinding me with its intensity. Nothing mattered but the thirst and the need to quench it. But before I could claim that inviting aroma, I was thrown across the room.

Growling, I turned towards the intruder who stood over my prey. A feral smile stole over my features. Did this fool think he could keep me from my kill? I crouched down to mimic his pose. I started stalking him, but he remained unmoved. Was he too much of a coward to fight for his kill? If so, I had no intension of playing games. The burn at the back of my throat was becoming unbearable. I flung myself at him, confident of my fighting prowess.

In just five moves, I had him pinned to the floor completely at my mercy. I just wanted him out of my way so that I could have my meal.

"Son, please, you don't want to do this. Jasper, come back, my son. Remember who you are," he pleaded with wide black eyes.

I wanted to lean down and rip off his head but something seemed to be pulling at the edges of my conscience. I looked at the man pinned beneath me. Blonde hair, kind eyes, and compassion even in the face of death.

Father… Carlisle!

"Find yourself, my son. You don't want to hurt her. You love her; she's your mate. You don't want to drink from Bella. Find the will to stop, Jasper," he continued to talk to me.

I finally took a closer look at the creature whose heartbeat called to me. There she was, face pale, dark hair fanned out behind her, lying in the dirt and grit, tiny and defenseless, unconscious.

"Bella," I cried, trying to get to her but in the same instant Carlisle had me in an unmovable grip.

"You need to hunt before you go to her, Jasper, or you might end up hurting her," he said as he dragged me towards the door, the only intact structure in the entire living room.

"No! I won't hurt her, please! Why is she on the floor? Is she hurt?"

"She'll be fine just as soon as you're next to her after your hunt. Please don't argue with me on this, son. You've expended a tremendous amount of energy due to the emotions you were projecting. You need to hunt before you do anything. Bella will be fine for a while by herself," he explained even as we ran deeper into the forest. I was contemplating ignoring his requests and turning back to go to my Bella when the scent caught me. I prayed for my Bella before I let my instincts take over and pounced on the nearest animal.

Two deer, a cougar and a fox later I was so full I could feel the blood sloshing around inside me. Carlisle was waiting for me but with out a word to him, I took off towards the house. As I approached the house, I could hear Bella's rhythmic heart-beats and her slow breathing. She was still unconscious. Without breaking stride, I picked her up and laid her on our bed in my room. From what I could tell, there was nothing wrong with her. She might just have been sleeping from the look on her face.

"Bella? Darlin', please wake up. I'm so sorry, I need to see your eyes love," I begged but there was no change in her state.

"You need to let her rest, Jasper," Carlisle said, standing outside the door.

He knew better than to come closer to us when my mate was in such a vulnerable condition. I wanted to growl on instinct, but controlled myself. This wasn't about me, it was about Bella and she needed help. I buried my face in her neck, reveling for a moment in her warmth and scent before drawing a deep breath, hoping I would have the strength to do what was needed.

"Come in Carlisle, I need you to check what's wrong with her."

He took a cautious steep inside, locking his eyes with mine, silently asking for permission to continue. I nodded in response and waited as he came closer and closer to Bella's prone form on the bed. I sat on the bed so that my body was in between Bella and Carlisle. There was a limit to my control on my natural instincts and Carlisle seemed to understand this.

He reached across me to check her, and ordinarily it would have seemed very weird except Carlisle did not take offense and ignored the growl or two that escaped from me. As soon as he finished, he moved to the farthest point of the room, barely standing inside the door as I gathered Bella in my arms, pulling her close. I needed to ensure that she had truly returned to me.

"There doesn't seem to be anything physically wrong with her," Carlisle told me in his doctor voice. "The pain you were projecting must have taken a toll on her and hence she must have fainted. If she doesn't wake up in the next six to eight hours then we'll have to get a CT scan and MRI done," he added.

"She came back to me when I was projecting? How could you let her do that Carlisle?" I demanded, angry that he'd allowed Bella to do something so reckless.

"I've been able to bring down vampires with that kind of pain and you let her endure something like that in her fragile state? Where's your common sense, Carlisle? I thought you were supposed to be intelligent!" I seethed. I had never taken such a tone with Carlisle, but the fear for Bella's health prevented me from thinking of respect and deference.

"I advised her against it, Jasper, but Bella is a very strong-willed child," he said with a kind smile on his face. "She refused to allow her mate to suffer alone, especially when she knew that it was her absence that caused you such agony."

Carlisle's words gave me the hope I so desperately needed, but I did not want to have them dashed again. I tried interpreting all possible meanings of the sentence, but only came up with one answer.

"Does it that mean that she accepts me as her mate? She came back to me so she must… she loves me?" I despised the amount of anticipation and need in my voice as I looked to Carlisle for confirmation.

"Indeed she does, Jasper. The amount of pain you were projecting had me on my knees before I could even enter the foyer, but she forged on. I wanted her to wait till you calmed down a bit, but she couldn't bear to see you hurting so much. I don't think you'd have broken out of your trance if it hadn't been for her," he said, love and pride reflecting on his face.

"I almost killed her," I whispered as I thought of my crazed actions after regaining my senses. "She couldn't watch me hurting and I almost drained her dry. I even attacked you!" I cried.

"Not for the first time in the day, I might add," he said dryly.

"She could have been dead by my hands," I said, still trying to come to terms with the horrifying realization. I had thought that nothing could hurt me more than losing my mate, but now I knew that being the cause of her demise would have been even worse.

"Stop wallowing in guilt, Jasper," Carlisle commanded. "You've said the same thing to Edward innumerable times and now I want you to follow your own advice. Stop over-thinking the situation. You didn't hurt her and that's all that matters. Also, if my medical expertise is anything go by, I'm sure she'll be fine when she wakes up, so try focusing on that."

I nodded as I held my Bella tighter in my arms. She was safe and well; that was all that mattered.

"Thank you, Carlisle, and I'm sorry," I said.

"Don't mention it, son. All's well that ends well," he quoted sagely just as his cell phone vibrated.

"Alice," he stated.

I let lose the roar that welled up inside me.

"She knew!" I roared. "She knew what would happen, but she did nothing to stop it! She could have prevented the suffering I caused Bella, but she didn't. If it hadn't been for you, I'd have drained her dry! I'll rip her apart, Carlisle!" I threatened.

Alice must have seen everything that had happened but she warned neither of us to prevent it. Me suffering from the pain of believing that my mate had deserted me was something I could forgive her for. But the fact that I put Bella at risk because she didn't deem it necessary to inform us of the future was not something I could ever forgive her for. It was a blessing for Alice that she wasn't present; otherwise nothing could have stopped me from destroying her.

"Jasper, calm down. Don't go accusing Alice before hearing what she has to say. I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for her actions," Carlisle said.

"You really should trust me more than that, Jasper," Alice said sounding wounded but I was not about to give in to her.

"I stopped trusting you the day I found out that you had lied to me for over five decades, Alice," I said, my voice infused with venom.

Deadly silence greeted us as all my family members who'd been engrossed in various activities all over the house in Forks came to a standstill. My separation from Alice had been difficult for the entire family. While they pretended that everything was fine on the surface, I knew how shook up inside they were. They couldn't hide from an empath and it was the reason why I had decided to spend some time alone. Obviously, our break-up was still a sore subject for them.

"That's not fair, Jasper," she whispered.

"Not fair? Not fair?" I hissed as I struggled to keep my voice low in fear of disturbing Bella. "You allowed the situation to get so out of hand that I could have drained Bella without knowing what was happening!"

There were gasps all around the house and two voices spoke up simultaneously.

"Is she ok?" Edward and Esme.

I remained silent, still trying to reign in my anger.

"Jazz man, if you kill my baby sister before I meet her, so help me man, I'll rip you a new one!" Emmet threatened. All there voices sounded closer, it seemed they were now surrounding Alice who still held the phone. One of the perks of being a vampire was you never needed to use the speakerphone.

"Language please, Emmet," Carlisle chastened as Emmet gave him a subdued grunt in apology.

"So what if he had killed her? It's not like he can't replace her, humans are a dime a dozen," came Rosalie's particularly high pitched voice and for the first time I understood why Edward had such a difficult time being around her.

I couldn't control my growl this time and looked at Carlisle, hoping he could control what she said before I lost it again.

"Rosalie, be kind. That is no way to talk about your sister," Esme admonished but Rosalie could be really pig-headed when she wanted to be, which was most of the time anyway.

"That pathetic human is no sister of mine," she spat and I could hear a door bang, meaning she had left the house. I snarled in viciously. At least I wouldn't have to put up with her; I was nearing my wits' end.

I had always been particularly fond of Rose. Both Rose and Emmet were simple beings, and you could always trust them to be blunt about stating the truth. Beating around the bush was not their forte. You could give them the most complicated situation and they would break it down till only the root cause remained. In comparison to Edward or even Carlisle, their company was always soothing.

The difference in Rosalie and Emmet was their outlook towards life. While Emmet was carefree and fun loving, Rosalie held a particularly embittered perspective on life. She despised what we were and could never cope with the fact that she could never have a normal family.

I always took unholy glee in watching Rose put Edward in his place when he was becoming particularly unbearable with his guilt and self-loathing. Rosalie was the only one of us who was thick skinned enough to call Edward an 'emo chick' and give him a tongue lashing. Now I realize that being at the receiving end of Rosalie's wrath is never fun and if she wasn't careful, she'd be at the receiving of the Major's fury. Nobody could hold me responsible for my actions if the fool threatened my mate.

"I'm sorry, Jasper," Emmet apologized, this being one of the rare cases when he was serious.

"You don't need to be," I said. Nobody could control Rosalie, not even her mate.

"Jasper," came Edward's hesitant voice. "I was with Alice the entire evening, she never had a vision of you turning on Bella in your bloodlust. I know it is difficult to believe what she says, but in this case it is the truth. The only vision she had was of the three of you sitting in the living room, discussing the mating bond."

"I swear I would never try to hurt Bella deliberately," Alice insisted, now sounding hysterical. "I never saw anything like this happen, I would never let her get hurt, she's going to be my best friend, my sister," she sobbed as she started babbling incoherently. I could here Esme trying to console her and the phone on the other side changed hands. I could hear the wind whipping around before Edward spoke into the phone.

"She's really upset," he said. "I think you were a bit too tough with her," he added.

"She deserved it," I snapped. "I almost killed Bella, Edward! Do you have any idea what that feels like?" I asked before I snidely answered the rhetorical question. "No, of course you don't understand, given that you're unmated!"

I heard his breath hitch on the other end of the phone and felt a twinge of guilt. Carlisle eyed me reproachfully as he continued to hold the phone in his hands and I could feel how disappointed he was with me.

I took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Edward, that was uncalled for," I apologized. I felt terrible to have hit him below the belt, especially since Alice's lies would never have been detected had it not been for his mind reading abilities. It was he who'd caught Alice's guilty thoughts and alerted the family of the situation. If it hadn't been for him, I'd still be in a phony relationship with Alice. I'd always owe him for the fact that he opened my eyes and that of the family to the truth.

"It's alright, Jasper. I understand that you're under tremendous strain, but what I said was also true. Alice never saw anything like this happen. She sat the entire afternoon looking for how things would go. She even saw you attack Carlisle, but that turned out ok," he said. "By the way, I told you Carlisle, you stood no chance if Jasper decided to attack you," he teased as Carlisle gave a very rare chortle.

"Don't laugh, Father. I had you pinned in just five moves the next time," I added with a smile, thankful that I hadn't truly hurt my father figure.

"Second time? When was this?" Edward asked, and Carlisle and I filled him in on the events of the afternoon.

"I still don't understand how Alice could have missed so much," Carlisle mused.

"I think I have an idea," came Edward's voice. "After Bella said she needed to go, Alice's visions went blank. When she searched the distant future, she still saw the two of you together, but she could see nothing in terms of what happened after the conversation. From what you told me, you were in far too much pain to make a conscious decision and Bella was indecisive about the two of you being mates."

"I think what Edward is saying has merit, Jasper," Carlisle stated. "When I felt that you were projecting, I got a call from Alice saying my future looked blurry to her. When I asked her what I should do, she had no idea of what was happening here. I think the problems in her visions regarding my future were because you had later attacked me in your bloodlust."

"Since you had stopped functioning and Bella was indecisive, it's possible that Alice never got a vision of what happened," he concluded.

I felt guilt overwhelm me. Alice had done nothing wrong, but I was still bitter from her deceit, I still couldn't bring myself to trust her. It was too soon, but I knew I needed to apologize.

"You're forgiven," she chirped out of nowhere and I felt my lips curl into a reluctant smile. In spite of of all the lies and deceptions, she was still a useful little Magic 8-ball.

"Also, you should stop worrying about Bella. She's going to fine and she'll wake up at 6:37 am tomorrow. But, you need to be prepared, she's going to be pissed about missing work today," she added happily. "And now, my dear brother, I see myself winning against you in a race towards home," she squeaked as I heard a whoosh signaling that she'd taken off without a warning.

"Evil pixie," Edward muttered before hanging up.

Both Carlisle and I wore matching grins as the phone call ended. I now knew that Carlisle was right when he said that things would go back to normal gradually.

I heard Carlisle sigh and found him smirking.

"Now, I think I'll have to call Esme so that she can direct me towards the completion of this impromptu renovation program that you started here," he said as I groaned, imagining Esme's reaction when he described the condition of the living room.

"You don't have to do it, I'll do it later on," I said. I didn't think any force in the world could pry me away from my Bella at the moment.

Carlisle seemed to understand my thoughts as he said, "Don't worry about it, son. Just take care of my precious child. I'll look after the rest."

I heard Carlisle setting things to rights downstairs as I buried my face in my mate's chocolate curls and inhaled her scent.

I was at peace.


	12. Chapter 12

**Inception on a Rainy Night by KT8812**

**

* * *

Disclaimer: **All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

**

* * *

A/N**: Many thanks to my wonderful Beta, BookwormBaby2580!

**

* * *

Previously:**

_I heard Carlisle sigh and found him smirking._

"_Now, I think I'll have to call Esme so that she can direct me towards the completion of this impromptu renovation program that you started here," he said as I groaned, imagining Esme's reaction when he described the condition of the living room._

"_You don't have to do it, I'll do it later on," I said. I didn't think any force in the world could pry me away from my Bella at the moment._

_Carlisle seemed to understand my thoughts as he said, "Don't worry about it, son. Just take care of my precious child. I'll look after the rest."_

_I heard Carlisle setting things to rights downstairs as I buried my face in my mate's chocolate curls and inhaled her scent._

_I was at peace._

**

* * *

Chapter 12:**

**

* * *

BPOV:**

I stood stock-still, unable to understand where I needed to go. Enormous walls of green surrounded me and I discovered that I was standing in a huge garden maze.

_What the hell am I doing here?_

I looked up at the sky and it was dark. Instead of twinkling stars and a shining moon, all I could see in the sky were gray clouds. It looked sinister and foreboding. It was one of those nights that are perfect for telling horror stories that make a chill run down your spine.

I knew I needed to get out of there, but then that wasn't easy given that I was stuck in a maze.

_Again, what am I doing here?_

I started walking forward, or backwards, it was impossible to tell. The tall green walls seemed oppressive and I broke into a run, not caring if I slipped and fell. I had always detested the feeling of the unknown in my life, but being quite literally lost was overwhelming. I knew I needed to find something, but I couldn't for the life of me figure out what it was.

I kept running, the damp cold seeping into my bones but there was no end in sight. I was getting tired and I wanted to give up so badly, but I kept pushing myself to continue. Suddenly, I found myself looking at what was probably the center of the maze, a small square opening and what I saw made my breath catch. Jasper was standing there; he was looking at something on his right. He glowed with a kind of luminescence that was used by Renaissance painters to show an angel. I couldn't find a good enough word to describe his unearthly beauty. I wanted so badly for him to look at me but he seemed lost in his thoughts.

"Jasper?" I called, but he didn't seem to hear. I walked closer, but it was as if I was invisible to him.

"Jasper!"

No reply.

Just as I was about to take another step forward, something twined around my foot. I screamed, but nothing seemed to perturb Jasper. I saw vines from the walls make their way towards Jasper and start climbing up his strong body, but he continued to be unmoved.

"No! Jasper!" I screamed, but to no avail.

There was a sharp tug at my ankle and I fell face first on the muddy floor, but I was only concerned with what was happening with Jasper. The tangle of vines twining around Jasper had reached his torso, and appeared to be a living, breathing, pulsing creature. Maybe, in a sick, twisted kind of way it was. I was being dragged backwards, my nails leaving trails in the mud as I tried to claw my way towards him. I kept screaming his name, trying to break him out of his trance when he finally looked at me. His eyes were hollow, filled with a haunting loneliness I had never before seen in him, before he was entirely engulfed by the plants.

The moment he disappeared from my view, my leg was set free and the entire maze appeared to dissolve into nothingness till I was left alone in crushing darkness, broken, sobbing and begging.

My eyes flew open and I found myself lying on Jasper's bed. _Our bed_. His spicy scent clung tenaciously to the bedclothes and seemed to saturate my every pore. I took in a great gasping breath as my fingers reached up to feel the wetness on my face. I was having a nightmare. Before I could find relief in that realization, the events of the previous evening came crashing down on me. I remembered finding Jasper curled up on the floor at the bottom of the stairs as the house lay in ruins. Was he all right? I tried to raise myself off of the bed, but I felt weak.

Was it possible to feel physically drained after a nightmare?

So, I turned and rolled out of the bed, falling in a heap of tangled covers onto the carpeted floor. My body felt limp and boneless. After untangling myself, I stood up on shaking legs to find Jasper standing there at the far end of the room, his back turned to me as he gazed out of the window.

"Jasper?" I croaked as I stumbled towards him. He did not turn around, so I satisfied myself by hugging him from behind, pressing my face in between his shoulder blades. After that horrible nightmare, I needed tangible proof that he was all right, that I hadn't lost him.

After a while though, I knew something was wrong. He still hadn't turned around and he had yet to speak a word. Despite his hard marble body, I could still feel the tense way in which his muscles were bunched together.

"Jasper, look at me," I pleaded.

When he finally turned around, his eyes were shuttered, his face an impassive mask. "You were having a nightmare."

It wasn't a question, so I just nodded.

"You were scared."

Again I said nothing.

"It was about me."

"Yes."

When I spoke this time, he flinched. Then once again, he looked away, studiously ignoring me. Irritation was fast catching up to me since I couldn't understand why he was behaving like that.

"Jasper, look at me!" I demanded.

He looked at me with the same cold, flat and emotionless way almost as if he were regarding a blank wall.

"Say something!" I begged.

"What do you want me to say?"

"Why are you acting like this? What have I done wrong?"

His sudden harsh laughter made me step back, bewildered once again at his reactions. As far as I knew, nothing that had been said warranted laughter. He stopped as suddenly as he had started. Clenching his hands into fists, he gritted his teeth.

"Just go, Bella," he fairly spat at me.

Tears of shock, anger and frustration filled my eyes as I once again tried to rise from the impossible whirlpool of emotions I had been swirling in since I met him. I felt like a rag doll, being flung here and there without any concern regarding how I felt, and suddenly I'd had enough. I'd had it with Jasper, I was bone tired of it all. He could take his charm and his speed, his bloodlust and his strength, his gift and it's projections and shove it up his hard vampire ass. I wasn't going to take this whiplash from him.

He had once again turned around, but I grabbed his arm and pulled with all my might. I knew he wouldn't turn around if he didn't want to, but I was trying to make a point.

He turned in slow motion, inch by painful inch as I silently fumed. As soon as he was facing me, I grabbed the collar of his still unbuttoned shirt and got into his face.

"You make sure your super human vampiric hearing is at its best at the moment, Jasper Cullen because I am not going to say this again. I don't care that you're a vampire or that you could kill my sorry ass with a flick of your pinky. I don't care that you have the power to make me feel miserable for the rest of my life with your gift, but don't you dare try and ignore me like I am invisible. Here I am, half scared to death from a nightmare, afraid I'd lost you to some crazy vampire eating plants only to remember you had been unconscious yesterday when I last saw you and you ask me to leave?"

My voice had risen to a level so high, I worried it might have become ultrasonic.

_Well thank heavens he's a vampire, he can't say he can't hear me._

I was breathing heavily after my harangue, hands still fisted in his shirt collar when he uttered a single word.

"Plants?" he asked in such a soft voice, his expression so utterly confused, he looked like a lost four year old. And he looked heart-breakingly cute.

I lost it completely then. I started laughing and I couldn't bring myself to care that it sounded deranged and maniacal. His confused expression was etched behind my eyelids and I laughed till tears made their way out of my eyes when his confused look morphed into that haunted look I had seen in my nightmare and then I started sobbing. My body seemed to loose it's strength once again and I crumpled to the floor. Jasper's arms caught me before my bottom hit the floor. He pulled me into his lap as I sobbed against his chest. He ran his hands over my back and hair in a soothing manner, muttering nonsense to calm me and it brought on a fresh round of tears. I was just so relieved to have my Jasper back.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the tears ceased and I ended up hiccupping and sniffling into Jasper's wet and very much ruined shirt.

"I'm sorry about your shirt," I said in a hoarse voice.

"Oh, darlin', don't worry about it," he said as he continued to run his hands through my hair.

I inhaled deeply, trying to take in as much of his scent as I could, but my nose was stuffy from my crying session and I ended up sniffling again.

Without a word, Jasper got up with me in his arms and walked into his massive bathroom. He sat me down on the counter next to the washbasin and got a washcloth to gently run it under some water. He wringed it to remove the excess water and gently wiped my face with it. I welcomed the cool, moist touch on my over heated skin, irritated from the salt of my tears.

"Feel better?" he asked quietly after he finished with his ministrations.

Before I could reply, he filled a glass with water from the tap and just like that I realized I was parched like I had been walking in the Sahara. I greedily gulped down the cool liquid and I set the glass down beside me. In doing so, I caught my reflection in the mirror and groaned. My hair looked like a bird's nest, my eyes were puffy and swollen, my nose was red as a beet root and my cheeks held uneven patches of red in them. I saw I was still dressed in Jasper's shirt and boxers from the previous day. Was it just yesterday that I met Carlisle? It felt like a lifetime ago to my muddled brain.

"I'm a disaster," I muttered as I raked my fingers through my hair, trying to return some order to it.

"What set you off like that?" Jasper asked as he casually leaned against a wall to look at me.

Was this guy for real? He alienated me as I was just waking up from a tormented sleep, on _his _bed and then asked me to leave without an explanation and he wanted to know what set _me _off?

I started counting backwards from twenty to avoid another scene like last time.

_I will not lose it, I will not lose it, I will not lose it_.… I chanted when I finished counting and was still mad as hell.

"Bella?"

"What set me off? What got into you, Jasper? You asked me to leave? Where did you want me to go?" I countered with my own questions.

He lowered his eyes and wouldn't look at me as he mumbled something too softly for me to hear.

"Hello! Human, here," I taunted.

"You had a nightmare about me," he sighed as he rubbed his face with his hands.

I tried to come up with a correlation between my nightmare and his behavior and came up with…

Zip, nada, nothing.

"So?"

He raised incredulous eyes at me before they quickly filled with anger again.

"You had a nightmare about me," he hissed through gritted teeth, as if I hadn't heard him previously.

"So what?" I insisted. "What did my nightmare have anything to do with you acting like a jerk?"

"You were scared of me!" he roared as he grabbed the counter on either side of me, which cracked under his inhuman grip.

That seemed to bring him back as he took two deliberate steps away from where I was seated.

"You were going to leave me, as you should," he whispered as he closed his eyes and hung his head in shame.

"Am I missing something here?" I asked as I jumped off the counter and moved towards him. He backed away from me instantaneously.

"Why would I be scared of you and why would I leave you when I came back for you? I don't understand," I protested.

"Bella, you were talking in your sleep, you were begging me to stop. I can imagine what I was doing to you in your nightmare," he said with a pained expression on his face. "You can leave, I promise not to follow you ever again."

"Where did you get the idea that I was afraid of you, Jasper? You're an empath; you can feel my emotions. Do I seem scared right now?"

"No," he admitted slowly. "But you were scared in your sleep, terrified actually. I could feel it pouring off of you in waves. Don't try to deny that you were frightened," he demanded.

God, I really wanted to beat some sense into him, but I was worried that my human bones of calcium and phosphorus were no match for his Adamantium-like frame.

"Of course I was terrified you moron! I saw the man I loved being mauled by a vicious, dead-flesh-eating, carnivorous plant!"

He stood there with a stunned expression on his face and just as I was about to start ranting again he had me in his arms, a fierce expression on his face that took my breath away.

"You're saying you weren't scared of me?"

"Obviously not, you door knob! I wasn't afraid _of _you, I was afraid _for _you!"

And then he was kissing me all over my face, his arms forming an impenetrable cage around me as I stood there like a statue, lost to the sensations he was stirring in me.

"Say it again!" He whispered harshly. It was a command and a plea, all at once.

"Huh?"

"Say you love me," he beseeched.

"I love you," the words slipped from my mouth without an effort. They came so naturally, like I had always been meant to say them.

Something akin to incredulous wonder flared bright in his ochre eyes before it melted into steely determination. His hands came up to clasp my head in them and pulled it up to sear my eyes with his. His lips descended on mine, frantic, desperate and brutal. He opened my mouth and I parted my lips willingly for him. His tongue invaded my mouth, plundering it for all it was worth as my hands came to tangle themselves into his curls.

_Yes, this was how it was meant to be._

My head swam with his heady scent, spicy and sweet, just in the right combination. My body responded to his proximity as it always did and I lost myself in his sensual assault. I never wanted this feeling to end. There was this greedy impulse in the dark recesses of my heart, craving more. More of what, I had no idea, but I knew I couldn't survive if I didn't get it.

"Ahem…"

Jasper was crouching protectively in front of me, a steady growl rumbling in his chest as my head spun from his sudden movement.

"I think Bella should have her breakfast before you indulge in… ah… more strenuous activities," came Carlisle's soft voice from way beyond the room, but I could still hear the smile in his voice.

I groaned as I buried my face in my hands. I could never face him again. Never in my wildest imaginations had I envisioned meeting my boyfriend's father like this. Jasper pulled me into him, prying my hands away from my face, so I sought refuge on his shoulder, refusing to look at him.

"I'm so embarrassed," I moaned.

His chest shook in silent laughter so I looked up at him. His face was radiant and his eyes were twinkling as he dropped a kiss on my forehead before he whispered in my ear.

"Carlisle has walked in on much worse situations than this, darlin'. Trust me."

My shock must have shown on my face because he explained.

"When you live in the same house with our kind for as long as we have, there's absolutely no privacy around. We've all seen each other in compromised positions before. Suffice it to say, you don't want to walk in on Emmet and Rosalie on their make-up sessions after one of their fights!"

My face heated up as I considered the meaning of his words.

"Well, I'm glad we won't be giving them any competition," I mumbled, still not looking at him.

"Oh, Bella. Trust me, in time, we will give them a run for their money," he whispered, his lips blowing cool air on the shell of my ear as I shivered.

_Did he mean what I think he meant?_

I looked up to find a very smug grin on his face and the look in his eyes was answer enough for my internal question.

I gulped.

**

* * *

JPOV:**

My Bella was adorable when she blushed. I felt like deliberately whispering ribald suggestions into her ears just to see her flush.

"Jasper, she really needs to eat after everything she's been through since yesterday," came Carlisle's voice from downstairs. I could smell the horrid smells of human food that he seemed to be cooking up in my usually-unused kitchen.

"Breakfast, darlin'?" I asked as I picked her up and rushed her downstairs.

I sat down at the breakfast bar with Bella in my lap as she raised dazed eyes in my direction.

"You really need to stop doing that," she chided. "I can walk on my own, you know."

"Not very well, unfortunately," I teased and was rewarded with a glare. I kissed her in return, everything 'bout her enthralled me. She harrumphed, not very convincingly before she turned to Carlisle.

"Good morning, Carlisle," she wished with a sweet smile on her face.

"A very good morning to you, Bella," he reiterated as her placed her breakfast on the table.

I could still feel Bella's lingering embarrassment but the paternal love radiating off of Carlisle for the two of us was enough to make my heart swell with joy.

Bella took a bit of the foul smelling French toast and moaned at its taste and the sound went straight to my groin.

God, the things this woman did to me!

I needed to distract myself from the thoughts brewing in my mind and so I turned to Carlisle, hoping I could come up with something mundane to control my raging libido.

"So, Carlisle, when are you expected to be back at the hospital?"

"I phoned in and extended my leave. I also took the liberty to call the college to inform them of your absence for a few days since you are sick with a particularly nasty bout of influenza. The lady, Mrs. Chase, I think was most sympathetic," he added as I cringed. Mrs. Chase was the Dean's secretary and could give the word 'cougar' a new definition.

Bella looked confused as she stared at Carlisle with questioning eyes.

"Alice called," he explained. "It's going to be a rare sunny day today," he explained as I froze.

No, no, no….

"I though the sun didn't hurt you," Bella frowned as confusion and fear warred within her.

"You need to let her see, Jasper," Carlisle spoke, too low for Bella to hear.

"No," I hissed out, without bothering to moderate my voice.

"What?" came Bella's innocent question, but I just shook my head and buried my face in her neck breathing her in.

I couldn't, I wasn't prepared to do what Carlisle was asking me to do. I'd only just found her, and I was not ready to lose her when she was faced with the proof of my savagery. As much as Bella had adjusted to the notion of me being a vampire, I doubted she really understood what it meant to be one. She had seen my human façade and had fallen for it. She had absolutely no idea what I was capable of. My display yesterday against Carlisle was just the proverbial tip of the iceberg.

I had been horrified when I realized that she had been having a nightmare in my arms last night. I'd forced myself move as far away from her as possible, hoping the distance would soothe her, but it had just gotten worse. Her pleas of "Jasper, no!" over and over again tore at my heart as I left the room, collapsing in my father's arms as he tried to use his calming influence on me.

I couldn't imagine what she thought I was doing to her that made her so scared. She begged and pleaded, sobbing in her sleep. It had been one of the worst nights of my existence. Although Carlisle tried to reassure me, I was sure that reality had finally caught up with her and she would leave without looking back, come morning. That I had almost killed her in my bloodlust only exacerbated the situation. I was sure that somehow, even in her unconscious state, she had found out the mortal threat I posed to her and took the nightmare as a confirmation of the fact.

But as always, my Bella never ceased to amaze me. I had reacted badly to her questions in the morning, but she had managed to pull my head out of my ass. She really was a little spitfire. Peter and Char were going to love her. Before I could make heads or tails out of her description of the nightmare, she had hit me in the face with a confession of love and nothing really mattered after that.

I had wanted to rip off Carlisle's head off, quite unrepentantly when he had interrupted us, but then I figured he knew more about humans than I did and had Bella's best interest at heart. Now the day was rapidly worsening as Carlisle brought up the issue of the skeletons in my closet. He had never judged me for my past, but he was not Bella. He understood what bloodlust was, he understood how difficult it was to resist and while his own record was pristine, he never looked down upon us for our failures. He'd even forgiven Rosalie for her vicious murder of those who'd wronged her.

But Bella, she was different. She was human, and though she tried, she could never fully understand how difficult it was to give up human blood.

_But she will, one day, when she's by your side for all eternity!_ crooned a joyous voice in the corner of my mind.

If she'd been a vampire I wouldn't have hesitated to let her see my scars. Had she been a vampire, even if my scars disturbed her, she wouldn't have been able to leave me, the mating call would've been too strong. But in her human form, she did not feel the mating instinct as acutely as I did. It felt like attraction, even love to her, but she wasn't bound to me as irrevocably as she would have been bound to me had she been a vampire. And therein lay the catch. What if after knowing my history, she didn't want me any more? She could easily walk away from me, dismissing our relationship as a crush when I was stuck in eternity, unable to move ahead without her.

The feeling of warm, wet lips caressing my own brought me back.

"You zoned out," she said, looking at me with those bottomless eyes.

"What is it?" she asked again but I couldn't bring myself to answer. Carlisle must have sensed my reluctance to talk about the topic so he took it upon himself to educate her.

"While sunlight doesn't hurt us per se, it does expose us for the creatures we are," said as he waited for the ensuing question.

"But I've seen Jasper several times during the day."

"Like I said, daylight doesn't harm us, neither does sunlight, but we cannot be seen by humans in the sun since they would know we're different."

"So, you can go in sunlight, but you can't be seen in the sunlight?"

"Exactly," Carlisle smiled.

Then came the dreaded question.

"Why? What happens in the sunlight that threatens to expose you?"

"It is not easily explained, Bella. It is best if you see it with your own eyes."

Bella turned to me, her doe eyes wide with expectation and excitement. "Will you show me?" Her curiosity and excitement washed over me and I nodded mutely, once again wondering if this was the time I would lose her. I gathered up the courage I was fabled to have, promising myself that I would come clean with her. I looked to Carlisle for strength, and sure enough, there in his golden gaze was simmering confidence that I did not personally feel.

"Are you done with your breakfast, sugar?"

"Yup," she said, popping the 'p' as she hopped off of my lap.

"Come, then," I said as I took her arm to lead her to the sunroom, my heart growing cold with dread.

She deserved the truth. I would not deny her that.

**

* * *

A/N:** Many apologies for the delay. I had some family issues to deal with. I hope all of you had a wonderful new year. I promise the next update will come faster.

I am now on twitter, so come find me there!

Also, I've joined the Twimuses blog as Muse KAT and I do Story recs, so check that out as well. The site is www (dot) twimuses (dot) com. But BEWARE, the site is not meant for you if you're under eighteen!

I've also been having a lot of problems with my internet connection, something to do with dug up telephone cables. Hence, I was unable to send the preview of this chapter to all those who reviewed. Once again, I apologize for the break in the tradition.

Let me know what you think of this chapter!

Many hugs,

~KT.


	13. Chapter 13

**Inception on a Rainy Night by KT8812**

* * *

**Disclaimer:** All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

* * *

**A/N:** A fair warning to all. This chapter contains references to slavery, the Civil war, rape and cannibalism. You have been warned.

Much love to my Beta extraordinaire _**BookwormBaby 2580**_ for all her help in my epic battle against the ellipses.

* * *

**Previously:**

"_Why? What happens in the sunlight that threatens to expose you?"_

_"It is not easily explained, Bella. It is best if you see it with your own eyes."_

_Bella turned to me, her doe eyes wide with expectation and excitement. "Will you show me?" Her curiosity and excitement washed over me and I nodded mutely, once again wondering if this was the time I would lose her. I gathered up the courage I was fabled to have, promising myself that I would come clean with her. I looked to Carlisle for strength, and sure enough, there in his golden gaze was simmering confidence that I did not personally feel._

_"Are you done with your breakfast, sugar?"_

_"Yup," she said, popping the 'p' as she hopped off of my lap._

_"Come, then," I said as I took her arm to lead her to the sunroom, my heart growing cold with dread._

_She deserved the truth. I would not deny her that._

* * *

**Chapter 13:**

**BPOV:**

Jasper led me towards a room I had never seen before. True, in the short time I had been in his home, I hadn't explored it much. I had usually been otherwise engaged in his bedroom and had been consequently ignorant of the rest of the monolithic structure. It seemed strange that he lived alone, but perhaps Carlisle and the rest of the family members would join him now and again.

We came to a halt in front of polished oak double doors that reminded me of ballroom dances of the early nineteenth century. The doors opened to reveal a sparsely furnished room with deep burgundy carpets. There was a solitary couch meant to seat two at the far end and the room conspicuously lacked any windows. What obviously made up for the lack of windows, however, was a huge dome shaped structure made completely of clear glass. The rare sunlight poured in through the giant oculus drenching the room almost in entirety with its glowing warmth.

For a moment the though of seeing Jasper in the sunlight left my mind, and I dashed forward to bask in the warmth of the sun. I had never regretted the decision to move to Forks during my high school, but I terribly missed the sun. I'd read somewhere in an advanced biology text book that the presence of sunlight leads to the release of certain hormones in the body and affects the temporal rhythms in humans. Hormone or not, I could physically feel gloom descending on me in the rainy town of Forks. In time, I'd gotten used to the general absence of sunlight in Washington, but the longing ache of going somewhere sunny, warm and dry was always lingering in the back of my mind.

I quickly entered the room, raising my face to the welcome warmth, feeling my face flush with the heat, trying to soak up as much of it as I could, given that the bleak days would soon return. In my brief affair with the Sun God, I failed to realize that Jasper had not joined me. Instead, he lingered near the door, still masked in the shadows, hesitant to move forward. When I turned to him, I found him watching me with a rather wistful, somewhat pained look on his face.

"You miss it, don't you?" he asked softly.

I nodded. "It's the one thing I regret to have left behind in Arizona," I sighed.

"I miss it too."

I took that to mean that he was originally from a place that had lots of sunshine. I had given Jasper a brief history of the bland life I had led up until I met him. In turn, he had been extremely tight lipped about his life, only giving me a brief outline of the various members of the Cullen family.

I shook off my thoughts, wanting to focus on the reason we were in this room in the first place. Feeling the shift in my emotions, Jasper continued.

"While we can not go out in the sunlight, we do enjoy it as much as the humans. Perhaps even a bit more than them. You can imagine how wonderful the warmth feels on our cold skin. Esme, bless her soul, insists on having a sun room in all the houses so that we can occasionally enjoy the sunlight when we're cooped up in the house on sunny days."

"I want you to enjoy the sunlight with me, Jasper," I said, extending a hand in invitation.

He vacillated, and for one long moment I was afraid he would turn and vanish before I could catch him. Then, he seemed to gather his courage and slipped off the shirt hanging on his shoulders. I watched as he took three deliberate steps into the room and closed his eyes.

I felt the wind knocked out of my chest. For several moments, I stood there, gaping like a fish out of water. He glowed… no… he _sparkled_. He sparkled like the freaking Fourth of July! He stood there, still as a statue and I continued to drink in his magnificent form. His body shone as if he had a million diamond crystals embedded in his skin. He was throwing rainbows onto the walls of the room for Christ's sake! It hurt my eyes to look at his dazzling form, but I couldn't bear to look away. As if this other-worldlybrilliance wasn't enough, his torso was painted with crescent marks in an imitation of abstract art. The marks were thickest on his arms, overlapping in several places. They crisscrossed on his shoulders and chest and gradually reduced along his tapered waist.

The marks shone with even more fervor than the rest of his body and my fingers itched to touch them. I closed my mouth, willing the dryness away, trying to say something, but couldn't. So I satisfied myself by moving towards him. He looked pained, his jaw clenched shut, his hands rolled into fists. I touched his cool cheeks, my hand forming a shadow where he was previously projecting rainbows.

"Does it hurt?"

His breath whooshed out, and I found that he had been holding it since he had stepped into the sun.

He placed his hand over mine, nuzzling my hand and placing a tiny kiss in its palm.

"No, it doesn't hurt. It feels wonderful, especially with you here," he admitted as he opened his eyes. For a long, silent moment, we stood there, just basking in the warmth of the sun and each others company. Slowly, so he could object if he wanted to, I raised my other hand and placed it on his chest. Again, his breath hissed out. My hand roved gently on the expanse of his glittering torso and he indulged my curiosity with gentle patience.

I traced my hand along the marks of his skin, trying to follow a continuous pattern. I tried discerning a difference in the texture of his skin where I saw the marks, it felt just like the rest of him- smooth as marble.

"You're beautiful," I murmured as I pressed a kiss to another mark, just above where his heart should be beating.

"God, no. You're the beautiful one, Bella. To see beauty in the dead form of a killer takes purity of heart, my angel," he whispered reverently, as he pressed his lips to my crown.

"Do all of you look like this?"

And just like that, he stilled again.

"No."

"No? You mean Carlisle won't look like this in the sun?"

I couldn't be sure, but I thought I heard a growl reverberate in his chest.

"You won't ever see Carlisle topless, Bella. But if you did, he'd also be throwing rainbows around him," he admitted. "He just won't have the scars," he added, hanging his head.

"Scars?" I asked.

He nodded. "Look closely, Bella. What do the marks look like?"

The marks… 'scars' he called them. With dawning horror I realized that the glowing semi-circular arcs on his body resembled bite marks.

I pulled away my hands and stepped back as my breath came in short gasps. My Jasper had been _bitten_, over and over again. What creature could it be that pierced his armor-like skin and that too repeatedly?

"Yes," he drawled slowly, his face twisted in a bitter smirk. "It took you long enough to recognize what they are, but then again, you don't know my history."

"Who hurt you?" I asked, my mind conjuring up scenario after scenario of how he may have acquired such painful reminders of his past.

"Other vampires, too many to name," he replied. "They made me the man I am today."

He cocked his head to the side, one blond curl falling audaciously into his ochre eyes. He brushed it off negligently and continued to asses me with frightening intensity.

"You're not afraid," he said, unbelieving of the fact.

"You should give me a bit more credit than that, Jasper. Why do keep thinking I'll be afraid of you?"

"Isn't proof of my violent past enough to scare you out of your wits?"

I shook my head in exasperation. Why couldn't he see things clearly?

"You were the victim, Jasper, not the aggressor! These marks speak of the horrific wrong done to you. How could I ever hold you responsible for what others did to you? I can't even imagine what you went through . . . ."

His harsh laughter interrupted my passionate declaration. It was a loud, hollow sound with not an ounce of humor in it.

"Oh, my sweet Bella. You see, that's where you're wrong," he advanced on me, his eyes glinting menacingly. "I wasn't, how did you put it? Ah yes, I wasn't the victim, darlin'. I was the aggressor!"

I had started inching backwards without thought.

"That's not possible," I whispered. "You were hurt! You have all these scars, _they _hurt _you_!"

"No, Bella. _I_ hurt _them_. Hundreds of them. I fed on humans, I killed them for sport, for pleasure. I turned them to fight a war they had nothing to do with. I used them and when they were no longer fit for use, I killed them. These bite marks are from when they tried to protect themselves from me. They are marks of self defense."

"No!" I cried, traitorous tears making their way down my cheeks. "You're lying. You wouldn't hurt someone on purpose. I don't believe you!"

He grabbed me by my arms, a bit too tightly but I didn't care enough to protest. "Believe me, Bella. You need to understand, I'm not good. I'm not _nice_. I've killed more people than you've probably met in all your life. I've fed on them, reveled in their screams and bathed in their blood. I'm not a good person, Bella. I don't want you to harbor any illusions of me being a Byronic hero. I'm a monster and you have the right to know what you're getting into."

"Why are you doing this?" I screamed, unable to hear him go on. "Why are you doing this to me? To us?"

He dropped to his knees, his head bowed in shame, his hands still clasping my arms.

"Because it's the only thing I have to offer. The truth. Other than my love, the only thing I can give you is my honesty," he whispered.

I kneeled down in front of him. No matter what he said, no matter what happened in the past, I refused to believe that he had a black soul. The Jasper I knew was good and kind, through and through. I knew there had to be a reasonable explanation for what he had done. He was obviously keeping some important detail from me and I would be damned if I accepted some half-truth from him when he had offered me honesty.

"Half-truths are as bad as lies, Jasper. Tell me everything," I said, cupping his face in my hands.

"You're still not afraid of me." It was a statement laced with awe and disbelief.

"No, I'm not. Now spill," I demanded and one side of his lips curled up in a half-hearted smile.

"Yes, ma'am," he drawled as he pulled me down with him to lie on the carpet.

He heaved a sigh before he started speaking.

"I was born in Texas in 1843. I don't…"

He stopped peaking when he heard my gasp. His hold on my waist tightened just a fraction.

"Disgusted by being such an old man's mate?" he asked jovially, but I could hear the fear underneath it.

I snuggled further into his chest. "No, actually I'm surprised I guessed it correctly. Even though I thought of it, it's a bit weird for you to be confirming the fact."

"How could you possibly know?"

I looked at him, my chin resting on his chest as my fingers idly traced the scars on his chest.

"Yesterday, when Carlisle took me to that diner, I asked him how old he was. He started to tell me a bit about his history and then I remembered how good you were at teaching American history and the way your eyes shone with fervor when talking of the Civil war, and I put two and two together."

"Carlisle told you?" he asked, looking a bit hurt.

"No! He said it was your story to tell, but he did admit that you had lived through the Civil war. He mostly talked about himself and how old he was."

"So, how'd you like his story, darlin'?"

I frowned. "Well, I didn't get to hear much from him… we were interrupted and then, we kind of started talking about the two of us." I thought of the flirty waitress and was mad that I hadn't really gleaned anything about Carlisle from our conversation except for his age.

"Anyway, you were saying?"

"As I was saying, I am a hundred and sixty-eight year old vampire," he said with a roguish grin.

"You weren't born a vampire, Jasper. What about your family? Your real, human, family?"

His face clouded over with pain as he looked towards the sky.

"I don't really remember anything from my human life," he whispered.

"How come? I though you were supposed to have perfect recall; kind of a perk of being an immortal God."

He laughed again, the same bitter hollow laugh. "I may be immortal, Bella, but I am no God." Then he muttered, "At least not the kind of God you're talking about." I was sure he didn't mean for me to hear the latter part, so I just pretended I hadn't. Being endowed with super-human senses, perhaps he was underestimating my mortal hearing powers.

"When we are changed, our senses become sharper, stronger. Our human lives which we have experienced through the human senses become fuzzy, less definite. The process of the change itself is so excruciating, often vampires suffer from complete, or at least partial amnesia. The whole process is like being born again, hence the term 'newborns' is used for those who have been recently changed," he explained.

"You remember absolutely nothing of your real family?" I asked, the tell tale prickling of tears forming in my eyes. I couldn't imagine not remembering Charlie and Renee and Jacob and Billy and all my friends, few though they were.

"A bit, I remember my mama the most. She was beautiful. I remember the feeling of safety and contentment in my heart as I heard her humming in the kitchen while I played in the backyard. I also had a kid sister, I don't remember her name, but I remember being very protective of her. I remember helping her once when she fell down and scraped her knee. I tied my kerchief on her knee to stop the blood and carried her home. I know that she told me I was her hero, and while I don't remember her face or distinct features, I can still remember the absolute devotion she held for me in her blue eyes."

The tears were flowing freely down my cheeks and I felt my heart contract at his words. I couldn't imagine the kind of loneliness he went through for almost two centuries. I wanted to hug him, kiss him, make him forget everything and never let go.

I kissed him fiercely, trying to covey all my love and emotions for him. I knew he could feel them and was glad I didn't have to put a name to my feelings, they were just too intense to put into words.

"Don't cry, darlin'," he whispered as he brushed away the tears from my cheeks. "It was a long time ago."

"That doesn't make it better," I mumbled.

"No it doesn't. But I have you with me, now and it's more than I could have ever hoped for," he spoke as his eyes shone with his love for me. I knew, no matter what he revealed today, it wouldn't affect my feeling for him. My love for Jasper was just like him, immortal.

"Go on," I urged, once again settling down with my head on his chest.

"Well, like I said, I don't remember much. I don't have any memories of my father, though I do know that he was a successful farmer. Still, I remember my fierce desire to join the war, the need to defend our way of life. It was all I thought about in my teens. I actually lied about my age so I could join up. I looked older than I was and I was very charismatic, so I could persuade the recruiting officer to add my name to the list."

"How old were you when you joined up?"

"Seventeen."

I shuddered as I thought of seventeen year old Jasper going off to war. Any number of things could have happened to him. Well, technically something _did _happen to him since he was now in my arms, but that's beside the point.

"You couldn't wait to start showing off all your brawn, could you?"

"It wasn't some kind of contest to show how brave and dashing I was, Bella. A war is serious business. At that time, it was all about right and wrong. It was about asserting our way of life, and defending what I though was right. And I wasn't the only one like that. Thousands of young men were joining up. We were young and idealistic. Our way was the right way and it was the only way."

"You supported slavery?" Though I tried, I couldn't keep the accusation from creeping into my voice.

He sighed again. "At that time, I did. Later on, decades after, I acknowledged that it was wrong, but by then it was too late."

"I can't imagine how people can condone the idea of slavery, let alone fight for it," I whined. I knew it was in the past, I knew that slavery had been abolished, but the thought that Jasper had fought on the wrong side hurt me.

He sat up, pulling me with him.

"I know this can be a very difficult concept for you to grasp, especially since you are so young."

"Don't patronize me, Jasper," I bristled.

"I'm not patronizing you, Bella, but you have to agree that I am a century and half older than you. Give me some credit, will you?"

I pursed my lips and nodded. Knowing I was acting petulantly did not help me correct my actions. I was allowed to be childish at times wasn't I? After all, as he pointed out, I was quite young.

He seemed to be thinking hard about something and then nodded to himself.

"You eat non-veg right, Bella?" I nodded, not knowing where he was going with the food example.

"You eat fish, beef and pork right?"

"What's your point?" I asked irritated at his questions.

"Well, in some of the sects of Hindu religion, its considered to be one of the biggest offences if one eats non-veg. They maintain that all forms of life are equally sacred and it is a crime to destroy any life form. Vegetarianism is one of the fundamental edicts of their religion. So do you think that you're committing a crime by eating non-veg?"

"That doesn't even make sense! What does it matter if Hinduism forbids non-vegetarian food? I was born Christian and while Renee never was religious enough to follow a particular church, I was brought up like all other kids."

"Alright, alright. No offense. Now, the aboriginals of Australia follow cannibalism. It's their way of life and they have been following it for centuries. Does that make it right?"

I gaped at him. "Humans eating humans? Eww… how can you even try to justify something like that? It's just… just wrong!"

"What I'm trying to prove here, Bella is that most of the time, right and wrong in the world is in relative terms. There can never be anything universally right or wrong. It depends upon the perspective of an individual on any given situation. And the perspective of an individual is affected by several things, one of the most important of them being their upbringing."

He paused, giving me a moment to absorb what he had said before ploughing ahead. "At the time of the Civil war, in the Southern states, slavery wasn't considered slavery. They were workers, a kind of domestic help, if you will. Slaves were used in the fields the way tractors and other harvesting equipments are used today. It was the way people lived, it was the norm and it was not considered inappropriate to have slaves. It was the way I was brought up and how I looked at the world. For us, the Yankees were at fault, trying to take away what was rightfully ours."

"Telling a Southern boy that slavery was a crime at that time is like me telling you that eating non-veg makes you a heretic."

Logically, I knew what he said made sense, but that did not make it any easier for me to accept.

"So you don't condone slavery now?" I asked, wanting to confirm his views on the issue.

"Of course not, sugar. When I was made to see the other aspect of slavery, it didn't take me long to accept we Southerners had it wrong."

I sat silently in his arms, content in the knowledge that the love of my life would not be bringing a collared slave into our lives at any point of time.

"Tell me more about what happened after you joined the Confederates."

"Well, I was excited to prove myself and do my family proud, as you can expect. During the almost three years I spent in the army, I rose through the ranks quite rapidly. I was the youngest Major in the Texas cavalry."

I could still hear the pride in his voice at his accomplishment.

"So what happened next?"

Again I felt his body freeze and I knew we were getting closer to the details of how he came to be a vampire.

"It was eighteen sixty three, I had been ordered to oversee the evacuation of a town near Galveston. The fighting was getting too close to the town. All the able bodied men were already at the front, me and my platoon were overseeing that the women and children were moved to safety. After the majority of them had been relocated, I was alone on patrol, looking for anyone who might have been left behind when I met _her_."

The amount of hatred and venom in his voice turned the simple pronoun into an epithet. Without knowing what she had done, I felt an intense dislike for her, and because it was obvious she had wronged Jasper in a grave manner. I turned around and wrapped my hand around Jasper, hoping the contact would afford him a modicum of comfort.

"Who was she?"

"Maria," he spat. "I found her, along with her two sisters, on a lonely stretch of wilderness, and was under the misapprehension that they required assistance. I ignored my human senses, warning me of the unnaturally beautiful women in front of me. I had been brought up to be a gentleman, and I was not about to disregard my duty towards them just because some warning bells were going off in my head."

As he paused, I tightened my hold on him. He absently placed a kiss on my head before he continued.

"Even in my human form, she recognized the latent talent within me and decided to change me. Nothing could have prepared me for the sudden viciousness of her attack. Apparently, they were already hunting for blood when they came across me and as a result, Maria drank far too much of my blood before injecting her venom. Instead of the usual three days, it took four and a half days for me to complete my change because she had almost depleted all my blood."

He used his fingers to tip my chip up and once again wiped the tears that coursed down my face with out my knowledge.

"It's okay, darlin'. It was a long time ago, don't waste your tears for that," he pacified me.

"Did it hurt?" I asked tremulously.

"I won't lie to you, Bella. It was the single most horrifying experience of my existence. The pain… it is unlike anything you can ever imagine and once the change starts, there is no stopping it. When I met the Cullens, I often heard Edward and Carlisle arguing about our existence, our souls. Edward always said that we are soulless monsters and when destroyed, we would rot in hell. Personally, I think the change itself is the hell we have to pass through before we join this existence," he said. "I would never wish that kind of pain on anyone, not even my worst enemy. It is overpowering, all consuming and devastating."

"You could never be a monster, Jasper," I said as I kissed him. "Tell me you never believed what Edward said," I demanded.

"While I don't believe that all vampires are monsters, I am an exception."

I opened my mouth to protest, but he silenced my by placing his hand on my mouth.

"You still haven't heard what I did after my change, Bella. Trust me when I say that the way you perceive me is most likely to change when I enlighten you to the way I lived the first hundred years of my life."

I pulled his restraining hand away and buried my face in his neck. "Nothing you can say will change the way I feel for you," I assured him.

"Maria and her companions, Nettie and Lucy, had come together to gain control of territories in the South after the Volturi had cleaned up most of the Southern wars."

"Territories; of what? And what war are you talking about? I thought that we were talking of the Civil war?"

"Territories for feeding, 'darlin. You can imagine how difficult it might be for a vampire to feed when he leaves behind a dead body or two whenever he goes out to dinner."

I shuddered at his words, amazed that the vampires truly looked at humans as just cattle fodder. It was a very difficult concept to grasp. Jasper tightened his hold on me, rubbing soothing circles on my back as he continued.

"As I explained to you before, vampires are base creatures, we follow our animal instincts. And like all animals, vampires have their territories in which they feed. When one vampire tries to encroach another vampire's territory, the outcome is not pleasant."

"Around the time of the Civil war, Mexico had been teeming with vampires, all hell-bent on destroying others so they may have a greater control on the feeding grounds. One ambitious vampire by the name of Benito dreamed of claiming Mexico city entirely for himself and he came up with a very innovative and catastrophic way of doing it. He created an army of newborn vampires and started a killing campaign against the other covens. In retaliation the other covens started making their own newborn armies. It led to a blood bath and finally the Volturi stepped in."

My mind was reeling with all the information Jasper was throwing at me. There had been a silent war going on amongst mythical creatures, right in the midst of mankind and no one took notice of it. It was impossible to reckon with.

"How come no one found out? And what is a Volturi?" I asked, held captive by my morbid fascination for the macabre tale.

"The high death rates were blamed on a contagious disease at that time."

When I looked skeptical he explained the symptoms. "It was a new disease with no symptoms except lacerations on the patient's throats and the drying up of their blood."

I listened in stunned silence as he explained what the Volturi were and how they intervened in the Southern wars to prevent the secret existence of vampires from becoming public knowledge.

"I still don't understand what all of this has to do with you or Maria and why she changed you."

"Maria had lost her territories during the Southern wars and wanted vengeance. Nettie and Lucy were looking to expand their territories and so their alliance was one of mutual benefit. Maria had an odd way of sensing potentially gifted vampires and hence, she turned me, hoping I would aid her in her attempts at gaining more territory."

"What did she make you do?" I queried, knowing he was finally going to reveal the secret behind the scars littering his torso.

"When I woke up after the change, I had no idea of who I was or what I had become. Maria was the only instructor I had. She quickly discovered what my power was and trained me in using it efficiently. I was in my volatile newborn stage, the only two things guiding my actions were my thirst and… lust."

I felt my stomach lurch unpleasantly at his words. I knew we had both had relationships prior to meeting each other, but his list of conquests over a period of a century and half mightily intimidated me. Perhaps it was the mating bond, but the idea of any woman other than me, putting her hands on him made fury glow white and incandescent in my veins.

"Bella?" he looked at me, his eyes worried at his revelation.

"Go on," I choked out.

Still looking unsure, but determined to go on, he continued. "Maria made me believe that we were mates."

This time I couldn't control my gasp and my heart started palpitating. Suddenly, I felt calm washing over me as my heart started falling back into its normal rhythm.

"Do you want me to go on?" he asked, face screwed up in worry.

_No_! I wanted to scream. But I knew if I didn't know everything right now, the remaining details wouldn't let me rest easy. Unable to speak, I just gave him what I hoped was an encouraging nod.

"I… I had no idea what a mate was, but Maria ensured I was always well fed and that my… other desires were fulfilled."

I squeezed my eyes shut, willing away the images that threatened to take over my mind.

"With my unique ability, I was able to control the newborns, preventing them from fighting within themselves instead of against the enemy. When they were no longer useful, I disposed off them. The scars I received were when I was trying to subdue a newborn crazed with bloodlust or anger. Maria starved the newborns, telling them that they would be rewarded with fresh kill when they won the forthcoming battles. If there is anything more dangerous than a newborn vampire, it is a blood starved newborn vampire. When the battle was won, the surviving members were rewarded with humans for feeding and… other purposes."

The words _other purposes_ threatened to overwhelm me more than the word _feeding._ Apart from blood, I could very well imagine the only thing that vampires would want from humans and the though of it made bile rise threateningly in my throat. I didn't realize how fast my heart was racing till I felt another wave of his calm wash over me.

"Did you ever…" I couldn't complete my question.

"Yes," came his soft answer even as his shame and guilt washed over me.

I pulled my knees to my chest, holding them as I rocked back and forth trying to physically protect myself from what he was telling me. Jasper had _raped_ human girls and then fed on them.

"Oh God," I moaned, not wanting to believe my ears yet knowing that he wouldn't lie to me.

"Why? Why would you… you had Maria for… for that," I cried.

"Sex releases endorphins into the blood while fear releases adrenaline. Both make the blood sweeter, more potent, more satisfying," he answered in a monotone.

"How many?"

"I can't say," he said, his fists curled into balls, his entire frame shaking.

"How many, Jasper?" I knew with his perfect memory, he would know exactly the number of humans he had killed.

"Please don't make me say it, Bella," he begged, tearless sobs being ripped from his chest.

"HOW MANY, JASPER?" I screamed.

"Ten thousand seven hundred twenty four."

My being was suffused with the guilt and shame radiating from Jasper but my mind was stuck on a single number.

_10,724 . . . 10,724 . . .10,724_

The number swirled in my head till I was deadened. It wasn't simply murder, or serial killing. . . . The only word that could fit killing at such epic proportions was . . . genocide. And yet, in my mind I couldn't see Jasper as an American Hitler. No, it was different. He didn't kill for fun or religion, he killed for survival. If I tried to rationalize it, how many chickens had I consumed for dinner since I was born?

_Chickens and human beings are not the same, you dimwit_! screamed my inner conscience.

_But to humans are to vampires what chickens are to humans. _

I tried to ponder on the sanity of a statement like that, but had to give up soon.

What scared me more than Jasper's confession was that I was prepared to justify his actions. My mind was coming up with any and all explanations it could give for Jasper's behavior. He was a newborn, he had an evil sire, it was his _nature_…

Even as the horror of his actions enveloped me, I could not force myself to loathe him. What frightened me was the fact that my intensity of love from him did not diminish in the least. What did that say about me? What kind of a person was I, when knowing the depths of depravity of Jasper's past did nothing to diminish my _need _to love him?

_You know he has changed, he no longer hunts humans. _

Yes, he had changed, but wasn't I supposed to be afraid of him?

_Who can dictate what you're supposed to feel? It's all relative, remember?_

In that moment, I decided not to over think my feelings. Jasper had suffered through a horrendous beginning in his vampire life through no fault of his, and yet, with his strength and determination he had risen above it. He had mastered the monster Maria had let loose and he was a better man than he had been. Everyone deserved a chance at redemption, most of all Jasper who had been wronged so grievously.

I recovered from my trance to become aware of Jasper. His body shook with his silent sobs, but he refused to voice his agony. My heart splintered to see the ache etched into the lines of his glowing face and I knew I would do anything to ease that pain. I got to my knees and wrapped my arms around him, the force of his sobbing vibrating through my chest. I held him so tightly that had he been anyone else, I would have choked him. He, in turn, grasped me as though I were his sole salvation.

I ran my hands through his hair, lending silent support. There was no point in offering platitudes in this situation. My presence and acceptance was all I could give. After an eternity, when I could no longer stand his pain, I decided to bring him out of his grief.

"Jasper, please," I begged, not knowing what else to say.

He looked at me with wild black eyes and once again I was overcome with the feeling of looking at a lost child. His fingers dug into my flesh as his eyes roved over my face.

"Don't leave me."

His words brought on a fresh round of tears from me.

"I'm not leaving you," I promised as I placed kisses on his face. "I'll never leave you, Jasper, my love. Never!"

"You're not leaving me?" incredulity laced his voice and expression.

I lowered my lips to his, tangling my hands in his locks, pulling myself flush against him. If he doubted my words, I would reassure him with my actions. He consumed the kiss, and even though my lungs screamed for air, I was reluctant to separate out lips. When he finally lowered his lips to my neck, I took a gasping breath.

"Bella," he murmured against my neck as my hands reached to unbutton the shirt I wore. I lay down on the thick carpet, pulling Jasper with me. That greedy little impulse in the cranny of my heart was growing, swelling to the point of bursting and I knew I needed to satisfy it soon.

Clothes were shed the way autumn leaves fall from the trees and our bare skin found purchase in the others arms. Hot and cold, mortal and immortal, young and old, we were the perfect complement to each other. It was a moment, not of lust or passion, but understanding and comfort.

I reveled in the peace Jasper found in my arms even as he rejoiced in the pleasure he drew from my body. He worshiped my body as he would a goddess and even though he owned me, heart and mind, body and soul. And when finally, finally he entered me, I welcomed him within my body with an earthy joy. His movements were slow and deliberate, trying to draw out our union for as long as possible. His body trembled with the emotions that ran amok within him, but I tethered him to me, for I was his safe harbor, as he was mine.

When he came, he whispered declarations of love and eternity which were laced with equal parts of pain and pleasure and in his completion, I found mine.

As I floated away on a cloud, the only thing I was aware of was that the greedy impulse in my heart was finally satisfied.

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**IMPORTANT A/N: **Firstly, I am offering two o/s in the 'Fandom against the floods' auction. It has been set up for the relief of the victims of the Queensland flood victims in Australia. The first o/s will be the telephonic conversation between Jasper and Carlisle when he first encountered Bella in his class.

I am still undecided about the second o/s, though I may write an Alice POV from when her deceit was laid bare in front of the entire family. If you have any suggestions, please share them with me.

Secondly, before the New Year, I had mentioned the possibility of me moving to a new city and that possibility has now come true. I will be moving to a new city in the upcoming week and as is expected, it will affect my updates of the story. I request all the readers to be bit patient. I have no intentions of shelving the story and will continue with it as soon as I get settled in the new environment.

Finally, this chapter was the longest I have ever posted and discusses a lot of controversial topics. If I can't entice you to review after this chapter, I don't know if I ever can!

Please let me know what you think!

Hugs,

~KT.


	14. Chapter 14

**Inception on a Rainy Night by KT8812**

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**Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.**

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**Author's Note:****It's been a really long time, but thank you for having faith and sticking by me. Updates will continue to be a bit sparse till January as I continue to apply to different PhD programs across USA, but as I promised, I will not be shelving this story.**

**Many thanks to _BookwormBaby 2580_, my Beta, friend, philosopher and guide in fan-fiction as well as life in general.**

**I wanted to bring out this chapter before Thanksgiving and hence this is the un-beta'd version. I will replace it with the beta'd version as soon as I get it from BB2580. If you read this before then, kindly ignore the more than normal errors in the writing. The fault lies entirely with me.**

**I hope you have a great Thanksgiving and count your blessings; we don't do so as often as we should.**

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**Previously:**

_**I reveled in the peace Jasper found in my arms even as he rejoiced in the pleasure he drew from my body. He worshiped my body as he would a goddess and even though he owned me, heart and mind, body and soul. And when finally, finally he entered me, I welcomed him within my body with an earthy joy. His movements were slow and deliberate, trying to draw out our union for as long as possible. His body trembled with the emotions that ran amok within him, but I tethered him to me, for I was his safe harbor, as he was mine.**_

_**When he came, he whispered declarations of love and eternity which were laced with equal parts of pain and pleasure and in his completion, I found mine.**_

_**As I floated away on a cloud, the only thing I was aware of was that the greedy impulse in my heart was finally satisfied.**_

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**Chapter 14:**

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**JPOV:**

**We lay there on the carpeted floor, entangled with each other and I had never felt such peace in my entire damned life. I held the most precious thing in my arms and I never wanted to move from my comfortable spot, my head resting on the swell of her breast, her heart beat a symphony to my ears. Even though we were touching from head to toe, I felt the need to still get closer to her. I wanted to crawl into her skin and stay there for the rest of eternity. Absentmindedly, I nuzzled her breast and she giggled. I looked up to find her chocolate eyes shining with joy and happiness. Her feelings of contentment washed over me relentlessly like waves on a shore. I had always despised my cold, dead skin, but watching the rainbows play across my sweet girl's face made me think there had never been a better sight to behold.**

**I felt a sudden spike in her amusement so I looked at her, only to find her biting her lip, trying to prevent laughter that was threatening to overwhelm her.**

"**What is it?"**

**She shook her head, her tiny shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter.**

"**Bella," I warned.**

"**You sparkle," she choked out.**

**Why was she thinking of that? She had been quite taken with the way I looked in the sun, so what had gotten into her head now? I must have looked particularly obtuse because she trailed her eyes down my body suggestively.**

"**You sparkle _everywhere_," she emphasized, her face breaking into a silly grin, which was quickly followed by more giggles.**

"**Why, Miss Swan," I smirked, "you seem to be having lewd thoughts about your Professor," I said as I leaned down, my lips almost upon her soft ones.**

"**Lewd does not even begin to cover it," she whispered as she captured my mouth with her, a sigh so sweet escaping her that it almost undid me. The kiss was long and languorous and when we parted, I could hear Carlisle coming back from where ever he had disappeared to.**

"**Carlisle," I told her.**

**She stiffened like plank wood in my arms before a groan tore from her and I was swimming in her mortification.**

"**Oh God! We were… he heard… oh… I can never face him…" she stuttered and I couldn't help notice how incredibly adorable she was in her embarrassment.**

"**Relax little one, he heard nothing," I assured her.**

**She opened her eyes and a little crease appeared between her eyebrows.**

"**But I thought you guys had super hearing," she asked, her confusion making her forget her embarrassment from a moment ago.**

"**Yes, but he left the house very quickly once he knew I wouldn't loose control. We try to give each other as much privacy as we can. It becomes a bit too much when you can hear your family going at it in the different corners of the house," I chuckled.**

"**Ewww . . ." she screwed up her little nose.**

"**It's uncomfortable in the beginning but you just get used to it. There's not much privacy when you live with six other vampires."**

**She looked aghast and her jaw dropped a little.**

"**You mean, you've _heard_ Carlisle . . ."**

"**And _felt _it too," I grimaced.**

"**Oh, for the love of all that is Holy! I could never think of Charlie and Renee . . . Shit! Now I can't _not _think about it!"**

"**If the two of you are quite through discussing your parents sex life, you might want to come down and let Bella get some breakfast," came Carlisle's voice from outside the room. He was thoroughly enjoying Bella's discomfiture and I couldn't help but laugh heartily as I felt the amusement roll off of him.**

**With a terrified squeak, Bella shot up from where we were lying causing my head to drop and meet the floor with a dull _thunk._ Despite being a vampire, I think I was dazed for a bit. She moved faster than I have ever seen her move, but then stopped short. She quickly realized that we were in the solarium and there was very little cover offered to her. She scrambled to put on my boxers, even as she hopped towards the chaise where her-my shirt was dangling. Inevitably, she got entangled in the shorts just as she reached the chaise and landed on the floor with a disgruntled _oooof!_**

**I was beside her in the next instant, trying to check her for any injuries even as she stubbornly clutched her shirt to her chest. I heard the click of the door but it did not open.**

"**Bella! Are you all right?" came Carlisle's concerned voice, his amusement having evaporated the instant he heard Bella tumble down.**

"**No," cried Bella, her hands extended as if to prevent him from opening the door.**

**Obviously having misunderstood her response, he opened the door just a bit, though he did not step in.**

"**No!" Bella screeched, "I mean yes, I mean don't come in . . . just don't come in! I'm not . . . decent," she finished with a whimper.**

**Unable to hold myself back any longer, I collapsed laughing while Bell a huffed and scowled, tugging on her-my clothes.**

"**It's not funny!" she hissed.**

"**Oh, but it is, kitten. You have no idea how incredibly amusing you can be," I snorted as I tried to reign in my laughter.**

"**Oh, ha, ha," she said dryly, finally managing to get all the buttons on her-my shirt buttoned up and standing up. "You can roll around all you want in the sun, throwing your little glitter showers hither and yon. I am going to get myself some food to eat. Unlike you, I actually need to eat in order to survive." She stuck up her nose and marched her cute little ass out the room, determinedly not looking back at where I lay. I still beat her easily to the breakfast bar where Carlisle was busy laying out some disgusting smelling human food. After the previous night's events, I was almost able to my normal self around Carlisle. The key word was almost.**

**I heard Bella's stomach grumble at the scent of the revolting food and realized that I wasn't truly taking care of her human needs.**

"**Thanks Carlisle," she beamed as she tucked into the bacon and eggs.**

"**You're most welcome, Bella," he responded with a warm smile, though he knew me enough to maintain his distance. As Bella continued to eat, I could sense that Carlisle had something on his mind.**

**He took a deep breath, used to acting human more than any one of the rest of us.**

"**Jasper, Bella. I am afraid I now need to take your leave. The hospital in Forks is already short staffed and I don't think it is wise for me to stay for any longer. Besides, I think here on, the two of you need to find your own way, further you relationship without any outside influence."**

**Bella had stopped eating during his monologue, and then swallowed noisily when he finished. That one tiny gesture, as well as the sudden spike of anxiety from her sliced through me. Did she not trust me enough to be alone with me? Did she still not have faith in our bond?**

"**What will we do?" she asked, not a little uncertainly.**

"**Oh, Bella," said Carlisle. "You need not over-think anything, dear heart. Just carry on as you may in any other relationship, simply keeping in mind the special demands of the mating bond. Personally, I think your bond is going to get stronger all the more, now that you have both acknowledged each other."**

"**But, seeing Jasper at school, I mean, he's my professor there," she added tremulously. "What will we do when I have a class with him? Just pretend nothing ever changed between the two of us? Or, maybe I can drop American History . . . yes, that would work. Or better yet, I can just get transferred to the community college so we don't have to address this whole teacher student scenario . . ." she trailed off. She had completely stopped eating and her heart beat and pulse were elevated, a sure sign of her distress.**

**I couldn't sit back knowing my mate was worried, so, in a swift move, I had her settled snugly in my lap, my face buried in her neck as I purred reassuringly for her. I picked up the gooey food with a fork and offered it to her. She gave me a hesitant smile before capturing the little morsel between her pink lips and I immediately hardened underneath her. She stiffened when she sensed my reaction, but relaxed marginally when she saw I wouldn't act on my urges.**

**Carlisle was once again placating her, as he offered his version of the solution.**

"**That won't be necessary, Bella. I was going to tell you that while I was out to get your breakfast, I also met with the Dean of your college. I have him convinced that Jasper is suffering from a particularly vicious viral infection, which also incidentally happens to be highly contagious. Hence, he will be unable to continue teaching classes until further notice."**

**I growled before placing Bella safely behind me and crouching down to face Carlisle. He was plotting to keep me from my mate! The Major would never allow that to happen!**

"**Jasper, calm down, let me explain," he reasoned, but I wasn't going to be separated from my mate, no matter what he said. I gently pushed Bella behind me as she tried to look around me at Carlisle. I hissed at him, baring my teeth.**

"**Jasper, please, at least listen to what he has to say. Please, Carlisle doesn't mean us any harm!" she pleaded with me from where she was standing. I knew I could never deny my Bella anything, so I tried my best to relax and lift up from my crouch. Even as I did so, I walked a couple of paces backwards, making sure Bella was protected at all times.**

"**Jasper, son, you know you wouldn't be able to keep up your human façade in front of others where Bella is concerned. Remember what Emmet was like with Rose? It was practically impossible for us to be able to say a word to her without him throwing an epic fit and breaking down buildings."**

**I did in fact remember what Emmet had been like, and I distinctly remembered calming him down with my abilities on many different occasions. At that time, I had found it ridiculous and unusually tiring to have to deal with his instincts and yet now, I understood what he must have had felt like.**

**The thought of Bella being out of my sight, even for a moment was unacceptable. That she be unguarded in her fragile human state was all the more terrifying to me. She was so much more prone to accidents than normal humans and on top of that, she wasn't indestructible as all the other vampire females. She needed extra care, she needed to be protected always and the idea of not being close to her for over nine hours a day was impossible to fathom. Any number of things could happen to her during that time. Some crazed lunatic could show up on the campus with a gun, or an earthquake could strike or a car could have its brakes malfunction. The more I thought about it, the more I became against the idea of letting Bella go to college without accompanying her.**

**Warm lips on my cold skin brought me back from my terrifying thoughts.**

"**Shhh . . . Jasper," she crooned. "I am not going anywhere, calm down. I'm right here."**

**It was only then I became aware of the death-grip in which I was holding Bella and the relentless growls rumbling through my chest. Carlisle continued to watch me with an impassive face and I could feel his resolve regarding the matter. I knew from my experience with him that when he felt like this, he would not back down from what he had in mind. A look like this from him could have even Alice re-thinking her upcoming shopping trip, but I was no Alice and Bella was not some insignificant whim of hers. Carlisle would not win this argument.**

"**Jasper, please, let's be rational regarding this."**

"**No! There's nothing to be discussed here. She is my mate and she won't be kept away from me. You know I will fight you on this, Carlisle."**

"**Did you forget what happened less than twenty-four hours ago, Jasper? Take a look around you! Look at what your rage did to this house. Forget the house, do you not remember the bruises you left on Bella's body? Bruises that have not yet healed and you might just be giving her new ones!" he snarled.**

**I immediately loosened my grip on Bella and a whimper broke through my growls as I remembered her black and blue midriff.**

"**Son," he started in a placating tone. "You have shown exceptional control till now, but even you must agree that your patience is at the breaking point. You cannot test it further without snapping. Do you want some poor innocent to pay the price just because you pushed yourself too far, too quickly?"**

"**Why must I be away from her? Can there not be another way?" I knew I sounded like a whining child, but I did not care. With Bella, nothing else mattered.**

"**You need to build your control, gradually, before you can manage to be in public with her without you giving in to your instincts. Bella is not immortal Jasper, you cannot just take off with her the way Emmet took off with Rosalie. She has needs which have to be taken care of. She has a life here and you cannot uproot her from her life so drastically. Do you not think that if a teacher and a student went missing suddenly, together, people would not notice? Bella has a family, a father back home in Forks. He also happens to be the chief of police. Do you think he'd sit idle with her gone missing?"**

"**Remember that night in the bar? How close did you come to killing that poor drunk child?"**

"**He wasn't a drunken child, Carlisle! He was a fuckin' pervert trying to hit on my mate! I could feel what he was feeling!"**

"**How many times have you had women hitting on you, Jasper? We cannot control who takes a liking to us. This is precisely the reason why I want you to take some time away from Bella. With the bond growing stronger every day, you will be irked by her simplest, most innocent interactions with other humans. You will be irrationally jealous and if you lose control at such a time, you may expose your true nature. You are very well aware of what happens to those who break the law, Jasper. And you would be dragging Bella right into that mess. Please son, see reason. What I am suggesting is for the best."**

**Carlisle's indirect mention of the Volturi had me stopping in my rebellious tracks. No, if they came to know of Bella, they would make sure to punish not just me and the Cullens, but also Bella for that. Already, they had a grudge with me. The role I played in the southern wars was a sore point with them, as was the fear of my powers. Add to that my joining the Cullens, a clan they considered a growing threat, and I knew I would be shown no leniency if my relationship with Bella was discovered. Carlisle was right, I couldn't take the risk. I couldn't risk Bella's safety. I would simply have to buckle down and gain control of my mating instincts as quickly as I could.**

"**I am so proud of you to have made the right decision, son," Carlisle smiled and the light in his eyes shone with joy. No matter how hard I tried, I could never mimic the innate sense of calm and justice he seemed to harbor. It was impossible to think of Carlisle as a blood thirsty newborn. Perhaps it took almost four centuries of seeing the world objectively to develop the kind of perspective he had.**

"**You always win," I grumbled, kissing Bella's neck, trying to reduce my sense of loss. She would be gone tomorrow morning and I was already beginning to count down the time before she had to leave.**

"**Yes, well, I am not gifted like you. I would like to believe that I was gifted with the art of persuasion, if nothing else," he smiled.**

"**So, it's settled then?" Bella asked, curling up on my lap as I sat down on the couch gracing the ravaged hall of the house. "Jasper will stay here when I attend classes and work?"**

**I stiffened at the mention of her work. I never liked it to begin with and after the incident of the jerk who hit on her, I disliked it all the more.**

"**No, absolutely not, you will not be going back to that hell hole! You do not need to work, you will be well provided for," I said. Obviously I said something wrong because the next instant she turned on me, her eyes blazing with anger.**

"**Jasper Whitlock!"**

**Her saying my first name did things to my body which were drowned out by the venom with which she spat my name. Irritation and anger poured out of her, her breathing was rapid and her nostrils flared. I could sense equal amounts of wariness and amusement from Carlisle, but he was no concern f mine at the moment.**

"**What gives you the right to make statements like that, Jasper? How can you speak for me like that?" she cried.**

"**I'm your mate. I'm entitled to make statements for you, darlin'" I said, though obviously it was the wrong thing to say. She wrenched herself out of my grip and stood glaring at me, one hand placed on a deliciously curved hip.**

"**And besides," I cut her off before she could start ranting again, "You don't need to work, kitten. I have all the money in the world to give you whatever your heart desires. You will be taken care of."**

**Again, this did not seem to be the favorable answer because her pose changed to an even more confrontational one. Her arms crossed over her chest and she started tapping her foot in irritation. But then, just as she was about to speak, a calculating gleam appeared in her eyes.**

"**You'll give me whatever I want? Anything that my heart desires?" she asked.**

"**Yes, absolutely darlin'. Anything that you desire, you will be given," I promised solemnly.**

"**Well that settles it then. I want to work in Duke's bar, as usual," she crowed in her triumph.**

"**No," I snarled. "Anything but that, you know it Bella. I won't have you working there; I won't be risking my mate. I don't understand what fascination it is you have with that dingy little place!"**

"**That dingy little place as you so aptly put it was paying for my food and board before you decided to waltz into my life," she screamed.**

"**And you don't need to worry about that any longer, I've already told you," I shouted back. "I'll always be there for you; I'll always take care of you."**

"**What if I don't want to be taken care of?" she asked in a broken voice.**

"**What is that supposed to mean? Of course I am supposed to take care of you! You're my mate Bella, I thought you understood that!"**

**She sighed before nuzzling her small nose into my neck.**

"**You don't know much about me Jasper, but if you did, then you'd understand that I've always had to fend for myself. Not that my parents didn't care for me, in the larger scheme of things they did care for me, but the small day to day things like cooking, or putting gas in the car or just paying the phone bills, I've always done ever since I was old enough to do so. Being independent, it is a part of me, I take care of myself because there was no one else to do before you came along and now it's just a part of me. Please, don't take that away from me, it makes me feel wrong footed."**

**I held her just a little more tightly as I took in her words. My Bella had never been cherished the way she deserved to. She should have been treated like a princess and instead she had to fend for herself and others ever since she could. It just wasn't fair.**

"**But don't you see, Bella," I protested. "At least now I can make up for that. You don't have to be independent; I can take care of you the way you deserve. You don't have to fend for yourself. Let me do the work, let me love you," I begged.**

**Her fingers tangled in my hair as she laid a sweet kiss on my lips before laying her head on my chest.**

"**I understand what you're saying, I understand it's difficult for you to see me interacting with others," at which my chest rumbled again. "But," she continued "it's impossible for me to change my life so drastically, Jasper. It is difficult for you, but it's equally difficult for me. In just a couple of days time, I have had to accept the presence of so called mythical creatures in this world, admit that I am mated to one of them, digest your past and I am sure this is not where the surprises end."**

**I felt a pang of guilt as I though of Alice and I could feel Carlisle's anxiety ramp up as his eyes met mine, signifying that he too though of the same thing.**

"**I need to hold on to some sense of normalcy," Bella continued, unaware of my turmoil. "I need sanity and there's very little of it left in my life anyway. Please Jasper, please, I'm begging you, don't take away the little bit of my old life that is left," she pleaded with me, finally meeting my eyes with her slightly damp ones.**

"**Fine," I sighed. I knew I could never refuse her anything. "But if I ever smell any other man on you, I will not hesitate to lock you up in my room. I have centuries to make up for and you seem to be trying to do your best to further reduce the amount of time I get with you," I complained.**

**Bella giggled.**

"**You're so cute when you pout!"**

**I narrowed my eyes at her.**

"**I am the fiercest warrior to grace this planet Miss. Swan, I do not pout!"**

"**You so do, and you're just adorable when you do it." She kissed my pout just to prove her point.**

**I breathed her in. I didn't mind pouting if doing so got me results like this. Just then, Carlisle's phone rang. The light in his eyes told me it was Esme's call even before he picked up the phone.**

"**Hello, darling," he greeted.**

"**Hello, love. Alice let us know that things are well and I'd like to talk to Bella and Jasper, if you could put me on the speaker phone please."**

"**Of course," Carlisle responded as he switched the phone onto the speaker mode.**

"**Hello Bella, Jasper," came Esme's warm voice. She knew I could hear her just fine without the speaker phone, but she had taken Bella's human ears into account and I was very thankful for that.**

"**Hello," Bella said shyly, even as her cheeks warmed slightly. I pressed a kiss to her crown.**

"**Jasper, it is Thanksgiving this weekend and I would love for the both of you to visit. I only recently found out that Bella too is from Forks, and that way she can manage a visit to the Chief as well?"**

**While the question was addressed to me, I knew that it was actually meant for Bella.**

"**I would love that, Mrs. Cullen. Thank you for inviting me," Bella said.**

"**Call me Esme, darling. All my children do."**

**I felt Bella's elation at being put in the same ranks as the rest of my siblings. In a way I was glad she would be getting to know Esme, from what little she had revealed today, her mother did not seem to be the overtly caring types. No matter how old one is, one always seems to need a mother figure in life. I only realized this when after the first time I had slipped, I had spent the night on the forest floor, weeping in Esme's arms as she rocked me back and forth. I decided with renew vigor to put the house to rights before Esme saw it. I might not be able to do as good a job as her, but at least I would not let her see the mansion in complete ruins.**

"**Carlisle, will you be home soon?"**

"**Yes love, though I'll be going directly to the hospital. I've taken quite some time off without prior notice and we are short staffed as it is these days."**

"**Very well my love. Jasper, Bella, I look forward to seeing you on Thanksgiving," she confirmed.**

"**We'll be there, Esme," I promised.**

**Carlisle was ready to leave as soon as the call ended.**

"**Jasper, Bella, feel free to call me for anything. I have faith in the both of you. I will also be informing everyone of the situation at home, they will be careful and cautious when you come home for Thanksgiving."**

**I shuddered as I thought of walking into a house of six other vampires with my fragile _human_ mate and clasped her to me a bit tighter. I knew all of them had a better record at the vegetarian diet than me, but it provided little relief to my anxiousness. On the other hand, I did want Bella to meet the family, to see how she adjusts to them and hope that at some point in the future, she would join us, making me and my family complete.**

**As we watched Carlisle drive away, Bella turned in my arms and kissed me.**

"**I love you," she said.**

"**I love you too, my mate," I said. She was the only thing keeping me sane. I wondered how I would get through the next day with her alone on the campus, away from me.**

* * *

**Next up: Thanksgiving with the Cullens. Any guesses about how that'll go?**


	15. Chapter 15

Inception on a Rainy Night

Chapter 15

* * *

AN: Yes, it has been a ridiculously long time. No, I have no good excuse except that grad school is kicking my ass. According to my lovely beta Bookworm Baby 2580, 'grad school sounds like a protracted hazing process'. I owe her many thanks for hand-holding and cheer leading, not only in the fan fiction world, but in my real life as well. Huge shout out to NixDucky for pre-reading as well as kissing my boo-boos on a daily basis.

* * *

"Jasper, no!"

He only rumbled in response.

"I'm serious!" though it came out as a gasp. He just pushed more lust at me as he nipped at my collar bone.

"I won't give you head massages for a month if you don't focus on the road!"

At this threat, he finally withdrew, allowing me to pull my shirt down and work on getting my hair back in place.

"You don't fight fair, darling," he complained as he finally steered with both his hands.

"I learnt from the best. And besides, I really would like it if you could focus on driving us home for now."

I took a peek at the speedometer and a light shudder passed through me. Jasper only chuckled at me as he felt my fear ratchet up.

"Don't you trust me to keep you safe? I thought we had established that I can very easily drive, even with my eyes closed."

"My heart might know it, but my brain doesn't! Besides, I'm a cop's daughter, remember? It wouldn't do for Dad to find out that you got a speeding ticket, especially when I am with you. And rest assured, he'll do a background check on you the minute he finds out we're dating."

"About that, remind me again why you still haven't told him about us?"

I blew out a breath.

"Because, he'll take it much better if I am sitting in front of him, instead of me just dropping the bomb over the phone. That Carlisle is the town doctor will certainly help matters."

"Even if he disapproves, he can't keep me away from you," Jasper said with just an edge of threat in his voice.

I laid my hand on his thigh, which he quickly plucked up and brought to his lips, kissing the pulse in my wrist.

"We've gone over this, Jasper. Everything will be fine. As a father, it's his right to not like you, but he'll come around. Besides, I'm an adult, it's not like he can ground me."

"I don't like the thought of someone even trying to keep you away from me," he said darkly.

"You have to understand, Jasper. It's not you. He will disapprove of any man I bring home, and it's his right as a father. Once he gets to know you, I'm sure he'll warm up to you. Besides, shouldn't I be more nervous than you? You'll just be meeting my father, and even though Charlie has a gun, he wouldn't be able to do much damage to you, but I am meeting an entire family of vampires and I'm human!"

I realized my mistake a split second after the words had left my mouth. The steering wheel creaked as Jasper's hands tightened on it, his jaw locked, and the car lurched forward as he depressed the gas pedal further.

Bringing his human mate to meet his vampire family was not a concept Jasper was comfortable with, and he had flat out refused to go once the fear had set in. But Esme's pleading and my begging finally won him over. I was not entirely comfortable with meeting strangers either, but I found myself beyond curious about Jasper's unique family, and felt indebted to them to some extent for the love and affection they had extended to Jasper. Jasper had spoken about Edward, Carlisle, Emmett and Esme in great length; he was particularly vague about Rosalie and Alice. And though I doubted it could do me any good, I was really curious about why he refused to talk much about his sisters.

But more than anything, I was worried about meeting Edward. He was a mind-reader. It felt like I was walking into some kind of messed up version of X-men, with mind-readers and psychics, though as Jasper had explained, Alice was clairvoyant, not psychic. The distinction was not clear to me.

Would they like me or would they hate me? Jasper's refusal to talk about some of his family members made me think that either they did not approve of me, or my relationship with Jasper. In any case, that was not comforting and I was hoping that this little meeting with his family would help break the ice.

The past few days had been difficult for Jasper, which meant they were difficult for me too. I never thought going back to school and regular life would be so difficult after the weekend I spent with Jasper. I followed Carlisle's advice and took thorough showers before I went home to Jasper every day, lest he catch someone's scent on me and go on a wild rampage. I was shocked to find that Carlisle was right about emotional pain translating to physical pain between mates. More than once I found myself rubbing my chest to ward off the pain unconsciously while sitting in classes or at the bar. Duke was adding to my stress at the bar, with his well-meant but misplaced sense of propriety, asking me to break things off with Jasper. There was no way I could explain my situation to him. I had been briefed in detail about the Volturi and vampire laws by Carlisle before he left and there was no way I was putting Duke's life in jeopardy by blabbing.

It was worse for Jasper. Self-imposed prisons are the worst kind, and he was stuck at the mansion, his leave of absence having been granted by the University. Every evening, I'd find him waiting for me at the end of the road turning towards the mansion. Every day, I was carried home in his arms and the evening passed in a blur of loving touches and contented purring. Jasper almost lost it one day when he caught Duke's scent on my jacket, which he had handed to me. While I changed my clothes and took a shower before heading over to his place, I didn't realize that Duke's scent would linger on my jacket when he helped me into it. It took me hours to calm him down that day and the next day, I had to skip classes because I was so sore from our lovemaking that night.

I was brought out from my reverie by the trilling of my phone. I grinned when I saw Jake's face flashing on the screen.

"Hey, Jake."

"Baby Bella! How are you and when are you getting home?"

I was suddenly aware that the sound of Jasper's quiet breathing in the car had stopped.

"I'm older than you, Jake. You don't get to call me a baby," I argued, even as I started rubbing small circles on Jasper's thigh to calm him down.

"Charlie said you're going to be late. What's up with that?"

"Yeah, I'll be in late at night. A friend from school is giving me a ride, but we'll be going over to his place before I come home."

"Hold on. You got a boyfriend at school, Bella? I'm wounded, how come you never told me about it?"

"It happened suddenly, I'll tell you when I get home."

"But his family is here? In Forks? Please, dear God, don't tell me you hooked up with Mike Newton," he whined.

"It's not Mike, Jake, and besides, he's a perfectly sweet boy. He took me to prom, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember, and even then I didn't know why you went there with him. You should have taken me with you," he insisted.

"As if you'd have come to the prom with us pale faces."

"Anything for you, Bells. So, who is this guy you're coming home with? Have you told Charlie? If not, can I please be there to see his reaction when you tell him?"

"His family moved here recently, his father works at Forks General Hospital. Dr. Carlisle Cullen, but I doubt you'd know him since you guys don't go to Forks General."

Jacob became suspiciously silent just as Jasper's phone started ringing.

"Alice," I heard him say.

"Jake, you there?"

All I could here was his labored breathing on the other end of the phone.

"What? How?" Jasper asked into the phone, clearly agitated.

"Bella, you need to get out of the car right now. Where are you? I'll come to get you," Jacob urged.

"What do you mean? We've already crossed Port Angeles, we're less than an hour away," I huffed. I couldn't imagine what had gotten into him.

"Well, look more carefully. What do you mean disappeared?" Jasper asked curtly. Obviously his conversation was not going smoothly either.

"Bella! I want you to get out of the car and run. Run, do you understand? Get Cullen to stop the car and get out. Stay away from him!"

"Jake, you're not making any sense and you're freaking me out!"

"He's dangerous, Bella. All the Cullens are dangerous; they're the reason why no one from the reservation will go to the Forks hospital. I'm coming for you, just get as far away from him as possible," he said frantically, as I heard rustling in the background.

Before I could answer, the phone was snatched out of my hands.

"You listen to me, dog. She's not going anywhere, you get that? You can't make her. No rules were broken," Jasper snarled.

He hung up before I could add anything.

"What is going on, Jasper?"

"Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you," he reassured me, as he depressed the gas pedal, the car shooting forward as it's speed climbed over a hundred miles per hour.

"That's exactly what Jake said, but what are you trying to protect me from?"

Without answering me, Jasper got on his phone again.

"Get Carlisle on the highway form Port Angeles to Forks. The Quileutes know, and they are on their way."

He waited as someone on the other end said something.

"I don't know if they're shifting, but if things come to a head, you know my priority will be Bella. If Carlisle cares about the treaty, he needs to get here as soon as he can!"

Putting his phone down once again, he turned to me.

"Put on your seat belt Bella, and you're not to leave the car under any condition, do you hear?"

Now he insists on me wearing a seat belt. He was perfectly fine with nearly ripping the damn thing off when he wanted better _access_.

"But . . ."

"If we get intercepted, I will get out of the car. I want you to then get into the driver's seat and drive away towards Forks. Someone from the family will get you and take you home. No matter what you see or what is in your path, keep driving and get home. Do you understand?"

"What is happening? What are you no telling me?" I had never seen Jasper in such a panic.

Well, technically, I was panicking, he was stoic, but his words did little to ease my racing heart. Where had things gone so wrong? A friendly telephone call had suddenly morphed into something terrifying.

"Your friend on the phone, he's a Quileute, yes? He's the one who told you the stories about the Cold Ones?"

"Yes, but . . ."

"Good, technically he's the one who broke the treaty, so I won't be in the wrong if I have to kill him."

Kill him? _Kill him?_

"You can't kill him! What has gotten into you?"

"Think, Bella!" Jasper bellowed. He never used such a tone with me.

"Why do you think he asked you to get out of the car and away from me? He knows what I am, and he's coming to kill me. If he were human, he wouldn't dare, but I assume he has phased and that makes him far more dangerous than a human enemy. I've been telling Carlisle for years not to grow so complacent and trusting of his friends, and now look what happens. They've been phasing under our noses and we have no clue about it."

"Not human? Japser, this is a misunderstanding. Jake is as human as me. I've known him since I was a child!"

But before Jasper could answer, I was distracted by something that caught my peripheral vision.

Something was moving in the forest through which the road passed. Not moving, running; running fast enough to keep up with a car that was going over a hundred miles an hour.

It was dark blur and huge, big enough to be a bear, but I was pretty sure no kind of bear could keep up speeds like this.

My fascination with the shadow was brought to an end when I was thrown against my seatbelt as Jasper braked hard.

In the middle of the road stood a grey wolf, huge and powerful, fur rippling with the bunching of its muscles underneath.

It looked like a wolf, but it was as big as a horse, perhaps bigger.

I was hallucinating. There was no other explanation; it must have been something I ate or even inhaled. I started cataloguing what I had eaten yesterday, but my mind went blank when I saw another wolf, a brown colored one walk out of the tree line. It was clear that this was the blur that had been keeping up with the car.

"Jasper . . ."

"Do you remember what I said?"

"Yes, but . . ."

He was out of the car and on the road in a flash. When I saw Jasper standing between the two huge wolves, my heart stopped.

While I knew he was strong and damn near indestructible, seeing him get dwarfed by such huge beasts made me fear for him.

"Get out of the way. I'll say this only once, the treaty was not broken and you have no right to this land. Let us pass and you'll live to see another day."

I pulled out my phone with trembling hands, doing the only thing I could think of.

He picked up on the first ring.

"Carlisle! Wolves. Huge wolves. On the road. Jasper . . ."

"Bella, be calm. I'm on my way. Alice and Emmett should be there briefly too. Do not worry, they will not harm you."

"But Jasper . . ."

"Please try and prevent them from having a confrontation, Bella. Things will get infinitely worse if the wolves get massacred."

Before I could say anything else, he hung up.

_He was more worried about the animals than his own son?_

The grey wolf on the road gave a particularly loud growl, and Jasper dropped in to a crouch and snarled back. I decided to take Jasper's advice and unbuckled myself and moved in to the driver's seat. The movement must have caught the attention of the brown wolf, because in a flash he whirled about and headed straight towards me.

But before I could blink, Jasper caught hold of the animal and flung it into the forest. It felt like I was watching a movie as the grey wolf then charged Jasper, huge jaws snapping in anger. Jasper was a blur as he feinted and caught hold of the wolf's middle, flinging it away like he did with the first one. It was obvious he was trying not to hurt the creatures, but why?

The wolves were relentless, the grey one charging at Jasper once more while the brown wolf came to stand by my side of the car and nudged it. I wouldn't have thought it possible, but the entire car shook from the impact. The scream that had so far been lodged in my throat escaped in an unintelligible gurgle.

My scream having distracted Jasper, he turned towards the car when the russet wolf caught hold of him by his shoulder, embedding his teeth into Jasper's hard skin.

"No!"

I turned on the ignition in the hopes that I could perhaps drive into the wolf, but Jasper was now of the ground, rolling and twisting, trying to get away from the wolf. The brown wolf, seeing that I wouldn't budge turned and started to move towards Jasper. Jasper was having a difficult time with one wolf, if the second one joined in, there'd be no telling what would happen to him.

Working against every instinct I had, I opened the car door and stepped out. That did the trick, the brown wolf once again started moving towards me, when an Audi drove up towards us. In an instant, Jasper punched the grey wolf hard on its muzzle and leapt out of its reach. The wolf while seeming momentarily stunned, but got back up on its feet quickly.

_What kind of mutant animals were these?_

"What took you so fucking long?" he growled out to the pair getting out of the car.

"Couldn't tame a few puppies, Jas?" asked the biggest man I had ever seen. Huge as he was, his size was exacerbated by the tiny, waif-like girl that stepped out of the car with him. The man must be Emmett, Jasper had talked of his size and strength many times, but the girl, I had no clue who she was.

She had golden eyes, so I knew she was form the Cullen family. I had asked Jasper about the lack of pictures in the family home or even on his phone. He had shrugged and simply said that with perfect recall, pictures lost meaning in vampire lives.

Emmett jumped in the path of the brown wolf and for a moment they seemed to be locked in a parody of an embrace, but the next instant they were back to fighting fiercely. When they weren't a blur, I could tell that both Emmett and Jasper were once again trying to keep from seriously injuring the wolves.

Things came to a grinding halt when a third wolf jumped out of the thick foliage of the forest without warning and let loose a menacing growl. I'd have thought it would join its kind in fighting Jasper and Emmett, but suddenly both the wolves stopped short and seemed to bow, if that were even possible, to the newcomer.

"Get back in the car before Jasper has an aneurism, Bella," instructed the diminutive girl who'd arrived with Emmett.

Nodding, I climbed back in the car, watching the most bizarre event I had ever witnessed.

Just as suddenly as she had appeared next to me, the girl moved to join the men who were still crouching in front of the wolves.

"Oh god, you guys smell!"

She blurred back a few paces as if trying to prevent the smell from clinging to her. I felt offended on behalf of the wolves.

The grey wolf growled and took a step forward before yelping moving back, as if tugged by an invisible leash. The black wolf growled once again, which sent Jasper into a tizzy as he crouched, ready to spring. It was Emmett that took hold of his hands and pulled him back.

Getting the message, he straightened up.

"I'm taking Bella home; she doesn't need to be here. You got this?"

"Of course, brother," Emmett replied, cracking his knuckles and giving a wicked smirk.

As soon as Jasper turned towards me and the car, the black wolf blocked his way and growled again. The uneasy truce was once again broken as it was clear the black wolf would not let Jasper pass.

But before another fight broke out, I saw a familiar red car speeding towards us on the highway. Carlisle stepped out, looking as impeccable as always, though there was a tightness about his eyes that I had never seen before, not even when he had Jasper's teeth snapping inches away from his neck.

"Who among you is the Alpha?" Carlisle asked looking at the three wolves.

The black wolf took a step forward, a low growl rumbling in his throat.

"I take it that you're aware of the treaty?"

The wolf growled louder this time, and it almost sounded as if he was offended by the question.

"Then you know that this land does not fall under your jurisdiction and that no rules have been broken. Bella is a dear guest and will be treated as such."

As soon as my name was uttered, the brown wolf started snarling, it teeth clenched, taking a step forward.

"Bella shall come to no harm from us, this I promise. The treaty will not be broken by us, but you have no right to stop us here, under these circumstances. Please think carefully before taking any actions. Bella will be going home this evening, safe and sound. I'm sure you have ways of confirming that. Now, unless and until you want to break the treaty by attacking us without provocation, you will clear the path for my family."

I had never seen Carlisle speak in a tone like that. I now knew why the whole Cullen family deferred to him. He was calm but no one could deny the authority in his voice.

The black wolf continued to stare for a moment before he took a step back. Jasper was suddenly in the car with me, and shifted the gear to drive.

Not waiting for the others, he tore away from the scene towards Forks.

I wanted to say something. There were a million questions I wanted to ask but I just couldn't bring myself to speak anything. My thoughts were jumbled, one half-formed thought being cut off by another bourgeoning one. I wondered if this was what shock felt like. Jasper remained silent as well, grim and tense.

I didn't even question him when he veered off of the main road onto a narrow bend, straight into the woods. For a while it seemed like we were lost in the woods, when suddenly, the little road opened up into a clearing with the most incredible house I had seen in the middle of it.

"We're here," he said quietly as he zoomed out to open the door for me.

He must have heard my heart pounding in my chest because he asked me if I was okay.

I nodded dumbly, nervousness finally breaking through my state of shock. This was it. I was going to meet Jasper's family. We walked up to the door, which Jasper opened for us, and led me into the living room, his arm firmly around my waist. I could feel his body tense and knew it must be because he was uneasy with the other vampires in the house. A gorgeous lady with caramel locks and a bright smile on her face was waiting for us.

"Jasper, welcome home! Bella, it is wonderful to finally see you."

I noticed she kept her distance, and I was glad. After everything that had happened today, I knew Jasper was not far from his breaking point.

"Esme, it is good to be home," he replied, his body relaxing just a bit.

"You have a wonderful home," complimented her, even as my eyes continued to take in the room, the glass wall that formed the southern face of the house, and the warm undertones of the interior. The house looked like it could have been on the cover of an interior decoration magazine.

"Thank you, Bella dear. Please, come and have a seat, you must be tried after your journey."

At the mention of the journey, Jasper tensed again, but walked with me to the sofa and sat down. Esme must have noticed his discomfort.

"Is everything all right, Jasper? Carlisle called and informed me of the situation."

"It was a close call. Carlisle is still there sorting the matter out with them, but I had to get Bella home. She did not need to witness it all. Where is Edward? I would have though his particular skill set would have come in handy when trying to communicate with those mutts."

"I'm afraid he left to go hunting yesterday evening. He wanted to _prepare_ for our guest," she gave me a hesitant smile.

"I did leave a message on his phone as soon as Carlisle called me, so he should be back soon."

Before I could open my mouth to finally ask about what had happened, I heard the roar of an engine. It didn't sound like a car, but more like a . . . motorcycle!

"Yank took my bike," Jasper grumbled, though a tiny grin stretched across his mouth.

"Told you he's be back soon," Esme said, smiling.

So, it seemed that I would get to meet the mysterious Edward next. I tried to clear my thoughts so as not to give away anything personal to the approaching mind reader, but that meant that suddenly I could think of nothing but potentially embarrassing thoughts.

The sound of the engine cut off outside and I stood up with Jasper to meet his brother.

My breath caught in my chest as I took in the new comer.

Tall like Jasper, he had a leaner build than him, a shock of wild bronze hair covered his head and his mouth was curved into a mischievous crooked smile as he walked in, speaking at the same time.

"Hello Jasper, thought I'd take the bike out for a spin, make sure it was in working condition for you and Bella . . ."

His voice trailed off as he looked at me and then suddenly, I was flying in the air. My breath whooshed out of my chest as my back hit the sofa hard enough to upend it, turning my world upside down. A familiar sickening sound of rock crashing again rock resounded in my ears but the image burned in my brain was that of Edward Cullen with blazing black eyes as his mouth twisted into a grotesque snarl.

* * *

The wolves and Edward. Jasper really is at his breaking point, isn't he?


End file.
